Paradise - Jersey Style
by ZCipher
Summary: Danny struggles with making a new life for himself in Hawaii. AU, and hopefully enjoyable. Chapter 6 picks up with Season 3. Story updated as Season 3 unfolds. At times, 'fluffy,' but not overdone. Thanks so much for your reviews. Kono K./Danny W.
1. Homecoming

Kono could smile now because she could. Awhile back, she couldn't when everything in her life seemed too painful. She entered her office with a bounce to her step. They gave her back her gun and her badge. For a while there, it looked as though she could kiss them goodbye, forever. The Delano-Fryer fiasco was behind her. She had been to hell and back. She had walked several miles in Chin Ho's shoes, knowing just what he had been through when he was on the outs with the department, having been considered an outlaw.

Being a part of Five-0 was being extended to her again and she was going to grab it with both hands. She was born to do this job.

It was early. Momentarily, Kono was under the impression that she was the first one here at headquarters. She couldn't wait to sink her teeth into a case. It felt as if she had been gone for ages. She missed the give and take, the rough and tumble of this job. _Here goes_, she thought, spying Danny walking into the break room. One look told her he was flagging. He went to the coffee machine like he was on automatic pilot.

Kono studied him, seeing how sunken his eyes were, how drawn he looked. "Long time I'm glad to see you," she said, all chipper.

If he had wanted to smile, he would have. "What is it with you disgustingly cheerful morning peeps? What are you on?"

Kono gave him an indulgent look. "Want some?"

Danny looked as if he wanted to punch her. "Maybe... What's on the table?"

"What do you want to be on it?"

The repartee bordered on being a tad constrained. Kono took it in stride. She was glad he was still here instead of on the mainland because he had followed Rachel to be with her and Grace. Danny was a special man and she wanted to make no bones about letting him know that.

He picked up on her gooey vibes, feeling how right it was that she be back where she belonged-with them. His eyes graced her and the symbol of her being reinstated. It was then that he smiled, infusing warmth into his facial expression. His eyes crinkled at their edges. "That looks real good on you." He wondered if she wanted a high five to go with his revived enthusiasm.

Kono filled his arms when he extended them out and open for her. "It feels good too. I enjoyed spending most of my days surfing, but I love being part of this team. I'll have to be carried out lifeless for me to leave again."

Danny strengthened his holding of her, unconcerned about how tightly he gripped her. "Don't even joke about that happening."

Not saying a word, she enjoyed being in his embrace.

. . . . . . . . . . .

Steve liked beaches. He surfed at them, went for long runs on them, had even been known to lounge on them too. Satisfied with the details of the case they'd closed, he decided that his team needed to fraternize. He called them all into his office and announced, "Guys, my place at fourteen hundred hours. Volleyball and beer. Corn on the cob, mac salad and slaw. Oh, and steaks. Who's in?"

"Sounds good, brah." Chin hand gestured a 'hang loose.'

Kono was all for the idea, giving a double thumbs up.

Danny got hit with six pairs of expectant eyes. He wasn't exactly frowning, neither did he look overjoyed. "Volleyball...at the beach?"

"Volleyball being the operative word," Kono emphasized.

Danny gave her a cagey look and sounded a little grumpy. "All I heard was 'beach.'"

"Grace loves the beach, doesn't she?" Kono asked.

"I don't have her this weekend."

"Afraid of having a little fun without her, Danny?" Steve regarded him while steepling his fingers and tapping them against each other lightly.

"No. I have plenty of fun without Monkey."

"Then it must be those high v-ball nets." Chin snuffed his chuckling behind his hand.

Kono shot her teasing cousin a blistering dirty look. There were some things that shouldn't be joked about when it came to the Jersey doll. She saw the momentary hurt look on Danny's face and continued to bristle. "Low blow, Cuz."

"Exactly," Chin goofed.

Kono continued to scald him with her eyes. She balled her hands into fists at her sides.

"Forget you, Super SEAL. You too, Mister Hidey-Ho." Rolling his eyes, but then softening them at Kono, he chilled. "I can play. I'll give you a treat when you watch me smoke your butts with perfect set-ups and..." He raised his voice to make his point. "Spikes!"

"That's the spirit!" Steve was already seeing himself being on Danno's team. McGarrett would be the official spiker, though.

Danny chipped in, "I'll bring Sangria." He looked pointedly at Kono, remembering how much she relished the savory wine punch.

"I'll bring Malia and myself," Chin informed the group of the gist of his intentions.

Steve and Chin were making further plans, not noticing Kono and Danny were giving each other some very appreciative looks. If they had been alone with each other in another setting...

"I'm short, but I really can play a mean game of volleyball."

Nodding, Kono was all too ready to buy that. "I'm on your team then."

"No doubt, babe. You're first choice."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Ko, wow! You look absolutely amazing in that suit." Malia stood alongside Kono as the beauty eyed herself in the full-length mirror in the guest bedroom of McGarrett's house. "On the drool scale of one to ten, you're an eleven. Who's this for? The tall, dark and handsome leader of your fearless band?"

Kono blushed, while hoping to impress an entirely different man. She could have worn a bikini, but this wasn't a surfing setting. The man in question leaned toward the conservative. That suited her just fine. He liked cleavage, very much, but he didn't need it shoved in his face all the time. Kono had donned a pastel blue tankini top. She left the cut-off jeans at home, opting for a pair of beige capris. They were shorter than typical capris pants and a tad tighter too. She slid Malia a preposterous look. "No!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure." She tried not to frown when she saw Malia doing it. "What's wrong? Is the top too tight?"

Her cousin's wife laughed, taking full stock of her perturbed relative. "That's a gorgeous blue. Like the other two you brought with you and tried on like a 'zilla. He likes blue, does he?"

"Who?" Kono retorted, sounding found out.

"Well, if it's not your boss, then it must be his sidekick."

"Danny's no sidekick," Kono hotly protested.

"He's very cute...and outspoken." Malia gave her a knowing eye, making Kono cringe. "He's caught your eye and...you have caught his. It's no secret. I've noticed the way he looks at you, sista."

Thinking about Danny like that made Kono swoon and her knees go completely weak. Her imagining that she wasn't his type was something she found herself glossing over more and more. She had made him look at her a number of times, but that wasn't such a big deal. When the right stuff got presented to guys, they looked. It was called wiring. She sighed, thinking longingly about when he had been introduced to her, after she had decked that drop-in nuisance, and the blond hadn't been able to tear his eyes away from her bikini-clad body.

Then there was the undercover assignment that had called for some quick thinking in the form of their groping each other like teens in heat while being scrutinized by cold-blooded killers. Kono went weaker in the knees with her heart hammering. That had happened over a year ago. The memory still left her breathless.

"He's my colleague," she insisted with big innocent eyes, which had a distinct glow in them.

"Who has the hots for ya, girl. You know what pyromaniacs say. Where there's smoke, there's fire." Malia's eyes were doing some splendid twinkling. "Go for it, wahine!"

Sounding shaky, but erring on the side of positive, Kono remarked, "If he does, I will."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"You're hopeless, man!" Steve howled at Chin.

"You should have set it up better, brah!"

"Danny! Get your ass up off the sand and stay sharp!" Steve was in all-out commando mode. What he wouldn't have given to be blowing a whistle. These were some sorry recruits. All, that is, except Kono. She was a drill sergeant's dream.

The volleyball net was ratty, sagging in too many places. The ball was more concave than convex. Despite the bite of Steve's bark, everybody was having a ball of a good time. It was just Five-0 yelling and screaming their brains out, and the mini riot going on had nothing to do with stopping crime. On Steve's lanai, the atmosphere could have given laid back lessons.

The food was plentiful, cooked perfectly, and the alcohol consumption hadn't gotten out of hand. If Danny had drunk too much, it could be attributed to his working up his nerve to speak to Kono. Tell her what had been pent up inside of him all this time for too long. As it was, his buzz was slight. His nerve was up.

It was just she and he on the lanai now. Chin and Steve had gone inside along with two of Steve's Navy buddies, who had also been invited. That group had said something about catching some type of game on T.V.

Kono and Danny sat on the red-cushioned Cassanova lounger. He sensed that he was not sitting close enough to her, so he slid over. No longer so sweaty, he had put his ribbed black t-shirt back on. He smelled of Axe and strong drink. The co-mingling of those odors was intoxicating. One of his thighs, which was encased in khaki shorts, was up against Kono's bare skin. He pitted his knee against her leg.

She was getting high just breathing him in.

Danny cleared his throat a little. "Having a good time?" He made an expansive gesture with an arm. He glanced up at the sky then as though a bank of clouds passing overhead had called his name. When the sky was shaded in such enchanting shades of pinkish mauve and azure blue, he couldn't stop staring at it. He was reminded of his younger days at the Jersey shore, days of pretty, suntanned girls crushing on him and he walking around like he owned anything he laid eyes on.

Kono craned her neck up in imitation, wondering what he saw.

It was late in the afternoon and the day's heat was starting to wane. Kono wanted to take a walk on the beach with him, but she didn't suggest it, hoping that he would. "A great time. You?"

From inside the house, Malia was watching them with a Cheshire cat smile on her face as she dried a glass. She turned her head and saw that the bottle of Sangria on the kitchen island that the blond haole had brought was half gone.

"The best." Danny was smiling at Kono obliquely. Not making it sound like an afterthought, he confessed, "Since you're here..."

Kono reminded herself that she needed to breathe as the air around them seemed to have grown very still. She liked it when they paired off on investigations. It gave her a chance to pick his brain, revealed how much she had to learn. When Danny commended her for instinctual things she knew, it never went to her head, but it did make her feel like she was on top of the world. A case from two weeks ago came to her mind. The lives of two dozen tourists, visiting the marina, had been saved all because Kono had thought to match up prints that at first were disparate. The would-be mass murderer had a record a mile long. He didn't get to add to his body count.

Danny hadn't been able to stop praising her.

Kono closed her eyes, letting her mind drift. Taking that walk on the beach with him was an idea that was getting better all the time. She kept resisting, but the words were on her lips.

The man of her fixation was watching her like a hawk. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Better than okay. I'm..." She opened her eyes to see Danny's face was inches from hers. His eyes concentrated solely on her. Surprised, but pleased, she inched her face closer to his. "Yeah. I'm good."

"Hey..."

"Uh huh?"

Danny scratched his head, looking a little lost and somewhat sleepy. Beer, maybe eating more than he normally did, and downing a good deal of that Sangria were contributors to his lethargy.

Picking up on it, Kono joked, "Need a nap?"

He blinked, but his lazy smile didn't waver. He wasn't even glowering. He feasted his eyes on this luscious, sexy woman. "Nope. What I need is..."

His lips, almost in slow-motion, found their way to Kono's. It was strictly a hands off first encounter and if Kono was swooning moments ago, she was skidding into 'coma-ville' now. For an innocent, sort of 'let's try this on for size buss,' Danny was rocking out the linchpins from her above board world.

Malia dropped her towel, gaping at them. The sound of someone approaching mildly startled her. She turned around, finding her husband standing beside the kitchen island, sporting a sloppy grin. He picked up the bottle of Sangria. "This is all that's left?" He sloshed around the remaining contents. "_Ipo_?"

"There's still plenty of beer," Malia huffed. Thinking quickly, she deflected Chin, actually guiding him to the fridge.

"What are Kono and Mister New Jersey up to?" he harmlessly asked.

Malia's eyebrows flew up higher on her head. "They're..." In her mind she whispered, _Getting better acquainted, Hawaiian style_. After he snagged four more bottles of beer, his wife steered him clear so his prying eyes wouldn't see.

"How does that saying go again?" Danny slithered in-between their mouths that had finally parted. "_Carpe diem_?"

Instead of seizing the day, Kono gently seized his face between her two hands and helped herself to tempting seconds. Naturally, arms began wrapping themselves around bodies, and some exploratory, yet chaste groping was on.

"Babe," Danny exclaimed, feeling Kono responding to his caresses. He mumbled against the side of her nose and mouth, "I don't know how wise this is, but I'm going with..."

"You're stunning," Kono wheezed as his hand tangled with her hand, then her hair.

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to say?"

"Fine. Now it's your turn. Say it..."

"You are stunning," Danny obediently rejoined.

With her face feeling as though it were on fire, Kono giggled, wanting to pinch herself. Was this really happening? Was Danny kissing her like she was destined to be his one and only?

"Thank you," she replied, hoping she wasn't flushed, resulting from all the amorous attention. She was though, deeply, unable to keep her cool under the pressure of Danny's serious advances.

"For what?" He glanced up at the sky again with a smile, spying the lesser luminary. "Flying me to the moon by slingshot?" Chuckling, he invited, "I'm in no hurry to come back. I've been wanting to do this, like forever..."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, brah."

"No, no. I'm not flattering you. I'm serious. You're..." He searched for the right word to do her justice. "Yu-yummy."

"You're not half-bad yourself."

Danny nuzzled the shell of her ear. "Really. Not half-bad."

Kono couldn't suppress the shiver that raced through her as it pricked. His breath tickled. "I need this. It's been awhile."

"Like it hasn't for me?"

"What about? Gabby?"

Danny sighed. "A nice lady. Very nice, but not for me. Grace was warming up to her. We went out a few times, but it became all too clear that I just wasn't good enough. Not in her league. I got the memo. When I was with her, I felt like I was back in grade school. Getting lectures on fascinating subjects I had no clue what she was talking about."

"The hell you aren't good enough," Kono assailed while her hand stroked the side of his face which was showing all kinds of resignation. "Her loss, Champ. And if I know what's good for me, I'll keep my mouth shut. "

Danny playfully jostled her. "Aren't you gonna ask me about Lori too?"

"It's none of my business."

"I say I want it to be."

Kono waited for a sign with a nod. Then, she shrugged. "And Lori?"

Danny patted her knee. "Great cop."

"Technically, she was an operative. Special agent, profiler extraordinaire."

"Whatever..." He shrugged a moment later. "If we're being technical, she was kinkier than I ever fantasized she could be. The woman was scary."

"Shut-up!"

"Nah, nah. I'm serious. Seriously, she was all kinds of wild, bizarre surprises. A hellcat with an angelic face. Now, I'm no prude, but I draw the line at-"

"Spare me the gory details. _Please_. You know I can talk the talk, but I do not, and don't plan on walking the walk." She began shaking her head vehemently. "Beats me how any of _that_ is..." Her eyes took on a precious look then.

Danny got hypnotized, feeling the need to kiss those luminous eyes.

"Appealing," Kono opined.

"Different strokes, for different folks, surfer girl." Dying to tease the life out of this, he angled, "See, yeah. Okay. It's true. I made the first move, but the ways she wanted to top me off were-"

"Dannyyyy!" Kono clapped her hands over her ears. Loudly again, she advised, "Don't finish that statement if you plan on taking me for a short walk on the beach before it gets too dark."

"What happened to that bold girl, typing all that randy trash when we were trying to lure the perp in? Where'd you go?"

"Nowhere. She's right here, being who she really is. Me. I just know stuff that's useful when it's needed. It doesn't mean that I subscribe."

The wise guy made a strangled sound, all for backing away from the seamy subject material since it made Kono uncomfortable. He trailed a torturing finger down the side of her neck. "Are you serious? Did you just ask me to take you on the beach?"

Kono shot up from the lounger. Not to be outdone, Danny did too.

"On the beach. _For a walk_." She attempted to take his hand.

He offered no struggle as his eyebrows jigged up and down. "Where I'm taking you...and..." He raised his hand to make an oath. "No perverted stuff. I swear. Just straight se-"

"Yo!" Kono upended. "Whoa there! Hold on!"

"Don't think I won't," he jibed.

She was about to change her mind about everything-the walk on the beach, the sweetly passionate kisses they had shared, and certainly anymore talk about their getting it on, period. Whatever happened to having a first date, at least?

"Babe, I'm just kidding. Not about the walk on the beach, but having sex on it. I was just yankin' your chain. Hey, you should know me by now. Big teaser me."

Kono's brusque laugh came out like a snippy bark and she didn't hold back from tempering him with an exacerbated eye roll. "Let's go, Romeo," she ordered, grabbing his hand and tugging him along with her.

"What are we gonna do as we walk on the place I love to avoid?" Danny let slide off his tongue. "Talk some more?"

"And kiss. We're doing a whole lot more of that."

Danny slapped the palm of his hand over his heart. "More being flown to the moon. I'm all over that, Kalakaua, as long as we're a package deal."

"Try leaving me behind, Champ."

Malia had succeeded in getting away from Chin as well as the other absorbed men, who were rooting for the favorite team, in Steve's living room. She was back in McGarrett's kitchen, stationed at the window she'd been observing Kono and Danny from. They weren't kissing, nor were they still seated. They stood now, holding hands. A secret smile, its warmth reaching deeply into Malia's eyes, was on her face.

The corners of Danny's eyes crinkled in sheer delight. Kono and he cleared the berry-bearing bushes separating Steve's house from the beach, heading for the moist sand and purling surf. Hitting the oceanfront, Danny had to admit that where the waters met the shore had its charms. The foremost charm being having this beautiful Hawaiian babe here with him, having her all to himself.

There was no truer meaning of paradise than being with Kono, as he saw it.

Danny firmly, but gently, pulled her close to himself, grinning wide. "Which way do you wanna go, surfer-girl? This way, or that way?" He had used his hands for demonstrating what choices they had.

Looking completely agreeable with those options, she softly began to susurrate close to his ear, "You decide..."

He hugged her waist tightly and thought..._I believe I will_.

They set off to the left for balmy parts unknown.


	2. Developments

They sat in companionable silence, on a hard mound of sand, watching the breakers pound the twilit beach. Water sailed up from the majestic waves. The air was alive with the pungency of salt and the forlorn cries of marine birds. Those fluffy mauve and fire-red tinged clouds looked good enough to eat with the darkening sky as their backdrop. The offshore breeze was lulling. The seascape typified tranquility and serenity for Kono. Regularly, she was overwhelmed by her home turf's exquisite, unparalleled beauty.

Danny turned his head back to Steve's house. The tiki torches were lit. The guests were outside now as sounds of the party breaking up reached his ears. He'd really had a great time eating and drinking...and coming to the happy realization that the reinstated female on their team had a thing for him. "I guess they're calling it a night."

Kono was effortlessly sifting grains of damp sand through her fingers. When Danny turned his face to hers, her smile was open and earnest. It bordered on surreal being with him like this. And all she found herself doing was smiling...a lot. "Yeah." Was that the most scintillating thing she had to say?

They had talked some while walking along the beach. Holding hands had tied both their tongues until Danny had started blabbing, as though he couldn't stop. He told her about some of what his life had been like in New Jersey. What his family was like. How, when he had been a boy in grade school, he'd had his share of fights, battling his way out of many neighborhood beatdowns because he was considered a runt.

Kono had gotten angry and balked at that. "Stop!"

"Nah, nah. Hey, c'mon. It's true. You're looking down at me while I'm lookin' up at you. It's a fact. One I totally embrace. I'm short. For a guy."

"You're amazing for being a great guy."

He had blinked, stunned by what she hadn't held back. He was more than a decade removed from being a teenager, older than she, but he suddenly felt like one now. He hadn't held back either, reeling her in because he wanted to kiss her more...a lot more. Her soft caresses and the fineness of her mouth were like a balm for his soul. "Wow...you're great yourself. You know that, right?"

"Hey you two beach wanderers!" came booming from the house. "I'm calling it a night," Steve broadcasted, his voice laced with mirth. "I'll be exercising boot camp style tomorrow, bright and early at oh-four hundred. You're welcome to stay, just don't wake me up to say you're going when you leave."

"Did he say he's going to exercise at four o'clock tomorrow in the a.m.?"

Kono giggled. "Not exercise, exercise. I think he means he's going on some practice mission. You know, as an ex-Navy SEAL deal."

"The man has never left the military."

"He's dedicated."

"So are automatons. He's Rambo for real and we're stuck with him."

Kono rose from the hard-packed sand. Danny grasped her hand, tugging at it, then giving it plenty of give until he took it back. She yanked him up into a standing position. "Depends on how you mean stuck."

Snorting, Danny angled her back into his arms, holding her snugly in place. "How's this?" He nipped at her cheek. "For being stuck?" His hands were all over her, but he wasn't being obnoxious about it. When it came to being with a true lady, Danny was a dyed-in-the-wool gentleman, through and through.

Kono did nothing to put him off. "I could get very used to you like this." She grinned with ferocity.

They kissed again, hanging onto each other tightly. The world was spinning around and 'round. Danny didn't want to let her go and it wasn't because he was inebriated. He really wasn't. It was Kono that had gone straight to his head.

"Hey, Ko!"

"Yeah, Cuz? What?"

"I'm going. Are you coming?" Chin sounded a tad impatient. He whispered to Malia, "What do you suppose those two were doing all this time?"

His wife just gave him a circumspect look and shrugged a little. She wasn't spilling any beans, no ma'am.

Smiling softly, Danny whispered, "Are you? With him and Malia, I mean."

"Well, they brought me so..."

"I can drive you home," he swiftly offered.

"And have all of them see us leave together. I don't know, Danny. You know how people love to talk."

Oh, boy did he know, but somehow in this setting he didn't quite care. "Yeah, but so what. Let 'em think what they want. Can't a friend give another friend a ride home?"

"When you say it like that, it sounds innocent enough."

Danny opened his eyes very wide, looking sage. "Innocence is in the eye of the beholder."

"Uh huh. Like beauty you mean."

"You're my idea of what real beauty is, team playa."

Kono grabbed his six pack and squeezed just enough to make Danny recoil in reflex. "Oooh! Now I know your weakness, buddy! You're ticklish!" She went after him with both hands, grinning like a fiend.

Winking maliciously, and faking her out like an NBA pro, Danny held her off; lots of sand got kicked up. Kono almost had him again, but he outmaneuvered her once more. He was tricky and wicked fast.

They made sure, however, that their antics went under the radar.

"Hey, Cuz. This is your last call. Are you coming or not?"

"Not," Kono called out.

"How're you getting home?" Chin shot Steve a questioning look.

McGarrett shook his head, indicating that he wasn't her designated driver unless she wanted him to be. _Almost anything for Kono_ was his unspoken motto, he thought through a yawn. Even if that meant he'd be a little sleep deprived come tomorrow. The volleyball game had tuckered him out. His service pals he'd invited were the 'take no prisoners' ball players. When those guys, and by guys one of them happened to be a gal, spiked, they did it for keeps.

Kono and Danny exchanged a meaningful look, knowing what was running through the other's mind.

He raised his hand to volunteer while saying, "You know you're coming with me, surfer-girl. I'll drive you home, or anywhere else. Just say the word. You got it."

Kono was ready to explode with excitement. In the pit of her stomach, butterflies were doing somersaults. She'd heard what he'd said, but she couldn't believe her ears. His tone alone tipped her off that the hardnosed ex-Jersey cop was hers to command. She couldn't help but tremble a bit. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought that this would happen. Here and there, Danny had made no bones about dropping harmless, mote-like clues that he liked her, but it was plainly evident how much.

"Hey, Cuz, I've got a ride. Malia and you can take off."

"Danny'll drive her home, honey," his wife told him in a knowing, calm voice.

Steve and Chin gaped at each other with their eyebrows towering.

"Oh?" McGarrett audibly noted.

"Really..." Chin similarly intoned.

"Since when did they become so chummy, chummy?" Steve remarked, thinking characteristically out loud.

Malia hooked her finger at Chin. _Clueless detectives_, rippled through her mind. It was time Chin and she got going. Privy to what had gone on in McGarrett's bedroom, Malia kept smiling, pleased that her husband's cousin had taken her advice. "Let's go, honey. She's in good hands."

Steve frowned along with Chin. McGarrett was about to say something when the couple under discussion emerged from the darkness.

"Night, everybody," Kono wished.

"Yeah. See ya," Danny expressed, walking like his pants were a size too small. "Steve, don't overdo it with that exercise."

McGarrett reinforced the evil eye he flourished for him. Chin wore the same expression more staunchly as Malia led her mate away.

Danny waved at the departing couple, then said to Kono, "Our turn."

She nodded, wished Steve a goodnight, after Danny had, and the odd couple, in Steve's estimation, left not quite arm in arm.


	3. Payback

It was fun riding in Danny's Camaro. It wasn't hard imagining him when he was a teen, cruising around his neighborhood back in Jersey in a tricked out car. The grown up man was a very careful driver, who didn't like going too fast and was vocal about how others drove. Kono already had a heads up, knowing the score having listened to Steve go on about Danny's compulsive complaining.

Danny had brought her home, as promised. Presently, they sat parked in front of her door listening to the quietness of her sleepy street. It was late. The only thing stirring was the fragrant breeze wafting into the car through the windows that were down. During the drive home, they had spoken much about the perils and perks of the job, interspersed with Steve's varied reactions over things and how they'd gone down. After a bit of hemming and hawing, Danny revealed that there were one or two things about Hawaii that didn't get on his nerves as much as they used to.

Kono was glad to hear that Hanauma Bay topped the list of beaches he liked taking Grace to. She suggested that they could snorkel there sometime if Danny wanted to. The bay wasn't just a beautiful natural setting, but also a preserve for protecting the diverse varieties of rare tropical fish that lived in it.

She had kept her voice hushed and expectant throughout her buildup and to her satisfaction, Danny agreed to checking it out sometime. He had some reservations about Grace being old enough to snorkel, but Kono assured him that Grace wouldn't be at risk. The sessions were tailored around age-appropriateness. Grace wouldn't be in over her head and Kono's putting it like that made him laugh.

"Wow, where did the evening go? It's almost half-past midnight." She opened the door on the car's passenger side, starting to get out.

Surprise lit his face. He wasn't ready for her to leave him so soon. "You know what they say about time," Danny hinted.

On his wavelength, but wanting to have a little fun, Kono nodded. "It waits for no man, nor woman. For me it's always way ahead of me. I'm talking in light years." She wrinkled her nose at him. "It's so hard catching up when you're already so far behind."

He nodded then too, looking somewhat tentative. He was a stickler for time management. He had to be. When he would promise Grace that he would be picking her up at such and such a time, he was there for her right on the dot, not a minute after. Keeping his daughter waiting was unthinkable. "I had another expression in mind. It fli-"

"When you're having fun," she jauntily finished for him.

"Uh...yeah. Like I was gonna say." Danny gave her a veiled look.

"Did you?"

"Did I what?"

Kono eyed him, looking saucy while she was doing it, flipping her glossy hair back. It was an out-and-out girlish maneuver. "Have fun?"

"I had a ball."

"The ball certainly had you, _brah_. How many times did you get hit on the head?"

"Okay, think you can drop that I'm not cut out for volleyball?" Briefly, he looked prickly. Then, he readjusted his face and showed that his lack of finesse in the game wasn't a big deal. "Where're you going in such a hurry?"

Kono noted the distinct gleam in his eye despite how picky sounding his tone had been. Overall, he wasn't quite a basket case playing the game. His hand-eye coordination needed a bit of synchronization, was all. What he lacked in proficiency, he made up for in determination and zeal. He had dove for every smash that had come his way. Danny was a never-say-die kind of guy, she thought, waxing philosophical. "You're all right."

Winking back, Danny fired off, "Just all right?"

Lifting her chin as she shifted over to be near him, Kono chuckled. Danny didn't move a muscle, just giving her speculative looks...and puckering his lips at her when it was clear what her intentions were. She couldn't help thinking he was as cocky as they came, but she liked it. He had his humble, reserved side as well. He met her halfway and they sank into each other's arms, embracing each other tightly.

Breathing Kono in, Danny looked sated. His mouth savored every inch of hers. Tenderly, she cupped the sides of his face and generously reciprocated. Jointly, their minds reeled. When they left off embracing, neither looked coy. Affectionate, mutual staring into very warm looking eyes was natural as they smoldered. That kiss was the best one yet. If they had been standing, a lot of swaying on weak knees would have happened.

Brushing his sideburns with her thumbs, Kono said, "You're just full of all kinds of surprises, aren't you?"

"You're no slouch."

"It's a girl thing. Always having to keep up."

Danny smiled sloppily. "Keep up? You were dusting me. Nice," he murmured.

"Thanks for the ride home."

"Was I gonna let you walk?" He placed his fingers at her chin to jiggle it. Kono leaned into his obliging touch.

It was there, just hanging in the air, the uncertainty, the possibility. What should happen next? It was too soon to take this development, neither had bargained for, to the next level. At least good sense was in favor of their taking it down a notch. The hazy, half-dazed looks they exchanged argued for their going full speed ahead.

"Want to come in for a while?"

"Uh..."

"Hey, no pressure. I just thought maybe you might like some...coffee. My maker brews a mean cup."

"Tell me it's better than what cooks at the stationhouse."

"No comparison, _brah_. Mine's a Hawaiian blend from beans that are lovingly grown on Maui. Once you taste these grounds, you won't want any other kind." Kono saw a little smile touch his lips while he thought that over.

What he was thinking over deviated greatly from coffee. But, he whisked such randy ideas away. _What's the rush_? _Get to know her better_, he advised himself. Kono deserved getting to know. What would nailing her in the sack, then having to face her once the sun of a new day rose prove? That he was a one-track minded loser, letting another part of his anatomy call the shots, typically, the way he used to?

Funny, maybe he came across like a guy who was all about bagging babes. Okay, maybe when he was younger, he had rolled that way. With the guys he used to hang out with it had been a way of life. A couple of them had become daddies barely out of their teens. Life's experiences taught lessons, but not always the best ones. He had a failed marriage under his belt. He was the proud papa of a wonderful daughter, who was beautiful even at this age. Danny shuddered to think about Grace as a young woman with men crawling out of the woodwork to get at her. Kono was somebodies' daughter. She was a lot younger than he. She wasn't the impressionable sort, but it wasn't his business, knowing how many men she'd been with, or if she was used to handling one-night stands. What gave him the right to mess with her...unless she wanted him to? 'Mess with' were not the right words, but that was all that came to him. He liked her, very much. If what he felt had any chance of becoming something more, he wanted to do nothing that could hurt her. He wasn't interested in being hurt either. Hurt sucked.

The one-time 'playa' thought seriously about how to proceed.

Before Kono hopped out of the Camaro, she said, "Give me a sec. My place is a mess."

He nodded while assuring, "Bet your place can't hold a candle to mine. Gracie thinks I let homeless animals stay there."

That cracked Kono up as she closed the passenger side door with a wave of her hand at him. "When I high-sign, storm the place."

"Gotcha."

He watched her run to her front door and open it to step inside her house. Danny sighed, dreaming up some very imaginative scenarios of what might happen once he set foot inside of her picture postcard home. He had always judged it to be a sweet place to come home to after a difficult case. She kept it as neat as a pin, a place for everything and everything in its place, as the saying went. Where she hung her hat, her gun and her badge had all the earmarks of a typical domestic slice of homespun Hawaii.

Fifteen minutes or so later, he was still waiting to be waved inside. What was she doing in there, Spring cleaning? He'd been invited in for coffee, not to move in. He debated whether he should stay put, or go find out. The argument for checking out what was going on won. He paused a moment at her front door before turning the knob. With a shrug, he did the honors and went on in, saying, "Hey, Kono...babe. I got tired of-"

The sight before his eyes hit him with all the force of a bomb. Frank Delano, the scum in the guise of a man, who had coerced Kono into his service for evil ends, had her in a headlock with the barrel of a 9mm pistol against her head. "Hold it right there, pal," Delano barked at Danny. "Get your hands up and park yourself on the couch. No wrong moves, or the Hawaiian doll's brains get splattered. Then yours."

Feeling sick as he made his way to the couch, he dropped himself on it. "What do you want?" Danny asked sounding as pointed as he could make it.

"Isn't it obvious, whatever your name is. Who are you? Kono's boyfriend?"

Danny sneered and retorted, "I'm not good enough for that. Nah, Frank, I'm-"

"How do you know my name?" Delano choked Kono harder.

She refused to yield an inch. She'd never let the escaped con, which he had to be since he'd been sent to prison for attempted murder, theft and whatever else Fryer had gotten him on, know how scared she was. She was terrified for Danny.

"H-P-D and Five-Oh know your name," Danny furnished with a curl of his lips. "All too well."

Kono withered in Delano's grip. Why had he identified himself as a cop?

"I take it you're Five-Oh too." Delano snickered. "Ah...a little departmental 'fraternization-al' nookie on the side, eh? Well, I can't blame you. Kono's tasty...very tasty. I wanted her myself." He grappled Kono more snugly to his body. Repulsed, she fought. "Settle down," Delano ordered with a snarl, "or you'll watch your playmate get it first." He enjoyed seeing the blistering look of hatred blaze in the man's eyes.

Danny bristled, but outwardly behaved calmly. "I repeat, what do you want?"

"Detective..."

"Williams. Danny Williams."

"Detective Williams...I want payback."


	4. The Right Sort Of Netting

_Payback_...

That two-syllable word incensed Kono. This dirty, stinking ex-cop, traitor had the nerve to think like that. If anyone deserved payback, _she_ did, for what he had put her through, the indignities she'd endured. The worst of the worst was how Delano had callously manipulated her, inducing her _ohana_ to believe that she had betrayed everything that they stood for.

The fresh memories fueled her infuriation.

Beneath Delano's entrapping arm, Kono steeled herself and made sure that Danny saw the intent in her eyes so that he understood what was going to happen next.

Comprehending, Danny sneered, while maintaining tight eye contact with his imprisoned partner. He gloated, knowing that Kono wasn't going to be that way for much longer. "So what's your big plan?"

_Good_, Kono thought, _distract him_...

Complacency was rife in Delano's obnoxious voice. "Plan?" The amused look on the escapee's face galled Danny to the max. Williams inexorably saw himself ripping this freak apart limb from limb. "It's simple. Once we leave here-"

"We?" Danny interrupted.

"Me and Kono."

Danny began gnawing the side of his right inner cheek. Whatever Kono had in mind, she had better do it fast before he did something rashly stupid, like rush this open wound with a mouth, and get himself killed before either one of them got the chance to turn the tables.

Delano foully continued... "We get to where putting a bullet through her head needs to be done and that's tha-"

"You deranged bastard!" Williams hotly aired.

Kono's eyes found Danny's again. They pleaded for him to keep cool. Following a beat that took less than a split second, Delano freed her in a flash and he was cupping his balls like they had been severed from his person. He writhed back in explosive pain that shredded him through and through. Kono could execute that particular defensive move in her sleep. And, smiling wickedly at Delano, with his gun in her hand, she took pleasure watching him collapse to the floor, sinking to his knees.

Danny rushed Delano then, like he was devouring prey, before the intruder had time to pull himself together. Hauling him to his feet, Danny shivered with anger. Expletives convulsed from him and he rounded out, "We're putting you away for the rest of your frigged-up, ass-backwards life!" He threw him on the couch, looking like he was just warming up. Another tempering look Kono plied him with, calmed Danny down a fraction. She gave him the gun.

With her phone against her ear, she said, "I'm calling Steve."

With a nod, Danny agreed about that definitely being the way to go. She would have called Fryer too, but he wasn't available since he'd returned to the mainland to be with one of his daughters, who was soon to have her baby. Fryer had told them that it would be his youngest daughter's first child, a girl. He had left Oahu laden with pretty pink things.

A purple-faced Delano said not one word. He sat crumpled on the couch with his head thrown back against the rest, barely breathing. He was going back to prison with the serial rapists, predatory killers, pathological losers and inveterate cop-bashers. He would have to double the amount of protection money to keep himself alive in con college.

Steve was on the scene in what seemed in seconds. When he entered her house, he was set on 'kill.' Stabbing his finger at Delano, not holding back, he railed, "If I had any say in what happens next, you wouldn't be walking out of here on two legs. I'd love making you a permanent cripple. Breathe wrong and it's done."

Delano dismissed the harangue with cutting eyes. He uttered neither word nor sound, though, even when Steve jerked him up to his feet. Clamping reinforced cuffs on him, the commander of 5-0 looked all too intent on carrying out that glaring threat. When Steve had learned that Delano had put a bullet in Kono during Fryer's op, he had wanted to stomp the punisher's head, martial style, till he had turned his brains to mush. At the time, it had taken all his disciplinary resolve not to follow through on his burning desire.

Steve rattled the snug cuffs adhering to Delano's wrists. The man's circulation wasn't entirely cut off, but it wasn't by much.

Chin arrived moments later. Seeing the cowardly Delano in guerilla-type custody warmed his heart. This rabid animal warranted being placed in solitary for the rest of his worthless life. Behind the scenes, Chin was going to see to it personally that it became reality. He flowed to his cousin's side and slid a supportive arm around her shoulders.

Close to her ear, Chin softly fed into it, "You're all right?"

Kono nodded and patted the arm lending much comforting support. "Out for revenge, he'll only get to dream about where he's going...again."

"This time he stays put." Sounding whimsical, Chin confessed, "If I were holding that gun..." The weapon drew his eyes like a super magnet drew metallics. "They'd be carrying that _defisi_ out in a body bag."

Kono smiled, liking her close relative's always-inventive use of Hawaiian. "Cuz, where he's going, he'll wish he was."

"Are you sure you're all right, Ko?"

"Completely sure." Her eyes ogled Danny. "The blond, nicely-packaged powerhouse being here for me didn't hurt."

"'Nicely-packaged,' eh, Cuz? Is there some latest development you're holding out on me on?" Chin drew a little away from her, eyeing her thoughtfully.

"Only that he'd give his life for me, like you would, in a heartbeat, _kaukini_."

"Then I owe him a huge thank you...Hawaiian style."

"He wouldn't mind. Sometimes he thinks you don't give him enough credit."

"Is that right?" Chin squeezed Kono before he made a beeline to the mainlander transplant.

Steve waited on Chin with Delano. He wanted this public enemy back behind bars asap.

"Thanks for keeping her safe, Danny."

"You never have to thank me about that, Chin. I'll always have her back...in one way or another."

Chin felt free to read a lot into that. By the way his cousin was looking at the haole, both now, and when they had come back from being on the beach, in synch with how quickly Danny had volunteered to drive Kono home, something was brewing between those two. Chin decided to bide his time before mentioning anything to Kono.

"Yo, Kono," Steve said, "once this is processed, I see to it that this never happens again. Believe me when I say, you've seen the last of this dreggy scum. I stake my badge on it." He changed tack, doing a one-eighty; his mind had seized on something different. McGarrett's mind was a whirling dervish when it came to locking down crime. We'll run those recent 'prints I told you Forensics lifted from that location. Now get rest."

"You got it, Boss. I'm already in dreamland."

Having done Danny the honorific honors, Chin, along with Steve, hustled off with Kono's uninvited 'guest.'

She wore the recent event's strain on her face. Giving Danny a pointed look, Kono thought it before actually giving voice to her humble request. "Stay..."

"No need to ask me twice, Babe. Where do you want me?"

"Where you'll do the most good." Her stipulation was void of innuendo. "Curled up with me."

She extended her hand to Danny, and after he took it, they disappeared into her bedroom.


	5. No Pressure

Kono was still fast asleep, her left cheek resting into her pillow, not quite buried in its soporific softness. Her breathing was a whisper, not rightly called snoring; it was just too soft. Danny smiled lopsidedly as he watched her, content. The edge, the cruel brush with Delano had etched into her lovely face, was completely gone. A good night's rest had worked its magic yet again.

He had thought about what waking up beside Kono would be like, often. What she would smell and look like, how when she opened her luminous eyes, he would be the first thing she saw. Effortlessly, the word that floated into his mind was…beautiful. She humbled all of his wishful imaginings. Smoothly, Kono shifted so her face was shy of the pillow with the back of her head nestled in it. Danny turned more fully on his side, crooked his elbow to support his head with his propped up hand.

The fact that this strong woman had had no qualms about wanting him to watch over her during the night blew his mind. She hadn't wanted him for sex, which there had been no mention of their having.

No, it wasn't a booty call, far from it. Kono had wanted him for something deeper, a concern more primal. She would never use his body as an anesthetizer. On the contrary, after having faced this harrowing experience together, she wanted to feel…his muscular presence, reassuring her that he was a reality in her life. He knew when to vent and when to say very little.

Fully clothed, Kono and he had lain down on her queen size bed with its soft, fresh sheets, so she could burrow her back and butt into his chest, crotch and thighs. It was a snug, tried-and-true fit, like they'd been doing this for years, he had thought, while covering themselves with the light blanket. Their spooning was intimate, but lacked explicit carnal intent. She had complimented him on what an excellent cocoon he made. Willingly, and with lassitude, she had sunk into the 'mystique' of Danny Williams, teammate, sympathizer and firm friend.

Danny yawned again…

His hesitation was momentary in the faint light of a new morning that would soon turn into another glorious Hawaiian day. A somewhat quivering finger began tracing the depiction of a heart against the outline of Kono's teardrop face. His reaction was predictable. His heart pounded, avid determination defining its rhythmic throbbing. Kono Kalakaua was winning it, cursively, completely. There was no going back to worshipping her from afar. The up close and personal approach was the way to go, he decided, with the tip of his finger balancing on the tip of her nose.

Kono couldn't pretend any longer. She cracked her eyes open and nose-butted his suspended digit. "Morning, bodyguard." Her dimples dominated her face. "Was it good for you?"

"I'd say that depends on your definition of 'good,' Bunkie."

Kono rolled herself into his face and kissed his cheek. "You're the best. Thanks for everything you did for me last night. If I didn't thank you enough before I fell asleep."

He shrugged, then caromed her into full wakefulness by gently, yet insistently, helping himself to a generous kiss from her mouth. At a snail's pace he drew back from hers, which he left agape. "You're welcome. Anytime you want me to sleep with you, just say the word."

Kono traced his lips that were curved sweetly upward. He let her have her way with his lips before destroying the moment by speaking anything further.

After she returned his kiss, he said, "I've got your back, anyway you care to take that." He sighed heavily. A look of regret flooded his eyes.

"What was that for?"

"What was what for?"

Kono brushed her fingers gingerly over his cheek. "That typhoon-force outpouring of air you just made."

His voice sounding thick, he answered, "For being such an ass."

"When were you an ass, Danny? You've been a complete gentleman ever since our first kiss. I put you in a really ticklish position, and…"

"Uh…technically, not yet you haven't. Maybe…uh…" Danny rolled his big blue eyes shamelessly. "That might come…later?"

Lightly, Kono pinched at his toned gut. "Is it getting hot in here? Or is it just me?"

Feeling the sudden heat wave in the room was mutual.

"I could use a cold shower myself, babe."

They sat up in her bed at precisely the same time. Kono gave him a saucy wink and flipped her hair behind her shoulder. He took it as his invitation to kiss that sexy-looking, exposed shoulder.

Then, Danny grasped her hand, twining his fingers with hers, showing no signs that he would relinquish the hand anytime soon. "You're a gorgeous, great girl and I have no right feeling the way I do about you, since the day I met you. Yet, damn, so help me-I do!"

"Danny…uh, well thanks."

"So, when I tell you how ashamed of myself I felt, and still do, about the whole freakin' Fryer-Delano thing. I can't shake how lame it makes me feel. I didn't want to believe that you went dirty, 'roguing' it up with Delano and his skuzzy band of losers."

"Stop! Can we not go there, Danny. That's all behind us now."

"Not for me it isn't, kid."

"But, it should be, though. Look, my attitude and actions were pretty incriminating. I did what I did 'cause I had to. So many times I wanted to call you, Steve, Chin and come clean. The thought of Five-0 being shutdown stopped me cold. Every time. I just couldn't let that happen. Not to you…Steve, or my cousin."

"I should've had more faith in you. Me-personally. I'd go to bed nights, tossing and turning, unable to sleep, asking myself the same nagging question: If I'd been in your shoes what would I have done? With no one on my side, suspended, due to what amounted to fabricated crap. Feeling like it's me against the world with IAB ready to shove me in front of a firing squad."

"You'd do the right thing, 'cause that's who you are. Right?"

Before he grappled her into his arms for more serious making-out, he had to ask her this. If he didn't, there was no way they would work and he hoped to God that they did. He prayed they could work; Kono had morphed, and not like it was overnight, either, into being _it_ for him. His voice faltered. Suddenly, he felt like a stranger again.

"Can you forgive me, Kono, for not reaching out to you the way I should have? Damn it! I should have called; I wanted to. Believe me, I did. Or come over here. Even if once you saw who it was, and decided not to answer. I should have come, and, even if you had given me the coldest shoulder that could freeze an Eskimo, I owed it to you. I sure as hell owed you at least that."

Kono merely shook her head, looking adrift, then thoughtful. Having wrapped her head around what it had taken to take Delano's op down, she had come to terms with what her involvement had entailed. As far as she was concerned, it was all history best filed under case closed. She had moved on and covering old ground was pointless.

If Five-0's survival ever depended on her cooperation, again, she wouldn't hesitate to put herself out there for her team.

"And don't you think you've made up for whatever it is you think you owe me? I sure as hell do. You're here now, that's all that matters. Danny? Hey, c'mon. All that's in the past. The future's got a real nice feel to it, yeah?"

Danny fitted her into his arms to cradle her. "Okay...but, you still haven't said you've forgiven me..."

"Do you think I have to?"

"Uh...if you...wouldn't mind. I'd sort of like to hear it."

Against his neck, Kono whispered, "Danny, I forgive you. Now. Promise me you won't bring it up again."

"Bring up what?"

Kono bubbled with laughter while Danny wormed his way close to her mouth and succeeded in kissing her like the man in love he had become. "Who says amnesia is a bad thing?" she murmured against his lips.

When he finally dragged his mouth away from hers, he replied, "I do. This I never wanna forget. Ever." He smoothed her silky hair down and looked deeply into her bewitching eyes. "Why don't you shower, and while you are, I'll make us some of my world-famous malasaladas. That is, if that's okay with you."

"I've got the ingredients."

"Do you have Bisquick? That's what I like to use."

Kono nodded. "Yep."

"And they won't be burnt ones." Danny had heard Steve fill Kono in on the cooking disaster that had taken place at McGarrett's home when Danny had house-sat and had tried serving up malsaladas unfit for human consumption. Not even Grace's dog, which Danny had had to take care of at the time, wanted to wolf the cremated nonedibles down. Danny raised a hand to pledge, "I swear."

"I have faith in your culinary ability." Taking her time about it, she began dislodging herself from Danny's sheltering embrace. Standing by her bed, she said, "I'll shower. You create."

He held onto her hand for as long as he could and after letting it go, he watched her stream off for her bathroom. He rolled off the bed to get to work. No pressure...all he had to do was whip up the best malsaladas Kono had ever eaten in her life.

Again, he thought, _no pressure_...


	6. Am I Butting In? Don't Mind If I Do

_Doris McGarrett_…Danny thought and smiled uneasily. _It's easy to see where the SEAL gets it from. Man, his mother is a total piece of work, just like him_...

He had just dropped Steve off at his place after their coming away from watching his mother's plane take off. Neither McGarrett nor he had spoken very much during the ride home. It was as though an invisible wall had been thrown up between them, making its presence disturbingly felt. Danny had wanted to say it, bring it out in the open. The question that nagged him, but he'd held his tongue. Steve had come across as being tangled in preoccupation.

Danny had figured for good reason…

Why hadn't Doris shot Wo Fat, but had plugged three bullets into the floor instead? Being a crack shot, considering her background, came with the territory. So why was Steve's arch nemesis still breathing, or wasn't in custody, at least? Wo Fat, along with several other things, Danny decided, needed hashing out. He drove until he could make a left on Main. When he got to Kilou, he drove on until he was in Kono's neighborhood and he turned down her street, liking the area's comforting peace and quiet. This entire day, from beginning to end, had seemed never-ending, with its hellbent pace. It had been one very freakish rollercoaster ride.

Exhaustion left its mark on the blond detective as he cruised down the person's block he had referred to as that 'someone he was seeing.' Just thinking that made him smile. Kono had become so dear to him, so accessible and real. Danny was a purist when it came to realness in a person. Without it, there was no point pursuing a relationship with said person. What was the point? None, as far as he was concerned.

_Thank God_, she hadn't died, he rejoiced, his heart fluttering while going slowly over the road which led to her house. Lately, it occurred to him that not knowing why, for sure, ugly things happened did not rule out their being a reason why they did. In his bones he realized that he would like to believe that what happened in this world made some kind of sense, even if it was crazy. Thankfully, despite having done so in desperation, Chin had had the presence of mind to give Adam Noshimuri the heads up about Kono's dire situation. By some miracle, Danny assessed, the man had been at the right place at the right time to pluck her from a watery grave in the nick of time. Regardless of how negatively he felt about the Yakuza front man, Danny owed him a deep debt of gratitude for saving the woman he wanted for being his girl. And as far as that was concerned, he was prepared to do whatever it took for winning her. Having a guy save your life was a daunting factor, he admitted that, but he couldn't shake the intrinsic feeling he nursed like a shot of whiskey that Kono and he were meant to be together. When they exchanged telling glances and secret smiles, it just felt too right to be fluky.

Their being together just felt all kinds of being right.

From where Danny sat behind the wheel of his Camaro, he saw Kono's shiny Cruze parked, gladdened that it was. Being within her home, sharing relaxed conversation with her, couched in intervals of easy listening, was almost as good as being back home in Jersey, with his boisterous family and close, irreverent friends on the force.

Sighing, while maneuvering his car, he eased it close to the curb and turned off the motor. His fingers fidgeted against the steering wheel before they began drumming it.

Right now, he so needed to talk with this woman, whom he had increasingly begun thinking of as his soul mate. She had this indescribable gift, the ability to vacuum a good deal of his brain fog that loved to collect in his head, especially at weird times like these. He had taken to worrying non-stop about the battle Rachel was vowing to bring to keep Grace with her. The ex-Mrs. Williams promised Danny it wouldn't be pretty and he had every reason to believe it was no veiled threat. His current ringtone for Rachel, _'Evil Woman_,' played in his mind, nothing described her better, to his way of thinking. As though it took great effort, he blinked like someone trying to wake up, although his mind and body cried out for sleep. Maybe Kono would let him spend the night as she'd allowed him to a few weeks ago. Maybe she'd let him…_nah, nah_…what was he thinking going there?

He was just being selfish, something he promised he couldn't ever be with her.

The skin at the corners of his eyes crinkled when he squinted. Kono wasn't insider her house; she was sitting on the front steps. She wasn't alone, he sorrowfully realized and his mouth fell open. It stayed that way, agape. He strained through the processing of this upsetting realization, seeing what he saw. Kono was with Adam Noshimuri and that knocked Danny for a six, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.

Sadness hung him out to dry, as he watched his dark-haired, dark-eyed comfort zone all cozied up with the man who had saved her life. It made his gut wrench so unbelievably bad, all stabbing pain. If they kissed, he'd probably have a stroke right on the spot. He debated with himself whether to leave or stay.

Stay…why stay? It seemed obvious that Noshimuri wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Danny heaved a tremendous sigh as his eyes had begun to feel heavy, itchy and on the verge of shedding a few tears. It hurt, close to physically, seeing the couple all snugged-up and blissful. Lamentably, Kono had her head resting on her rescuer's shoulder, looking the picture of contentment.

Danny wanted to hurl, but he choked down the bile that was rising up in his throat. He hung his head down, lowering it to the steering wheel, breathing out and in as though it was the hardest thing to do. He lifted his head up and down several times, not exactly pounding it into the wheel, being careful about not doing that. Wouldn't that be great, ramming it into the wheel so hard, inadvertently honking the horn in the process and alerting Kono and the interloper to his presence?

Mentally, he counted to three and raised his head with his eyes closed. When he opened them he beheld Noshimuri giving Kono a hug and a chaste enough kiss, like a man would give his sister. Danny stared at them, needing to believe that's what it was. Noshimuri walked away from Kono, bound for his car. He made a 'call you' gesture to her and she nodded, never taking her eyes off him until he got into his car and drove away.

Again, Danny mulled over whether he should bother her, especially after witnessing what he had, as innocent as it was. His desire to be with Kono won over the little voice in his head suggesting that he leave her alone. _Leave her alone_, he scoffed, coming out of his car like it had just been set on fire. _No can do; I gotta talk to her…maybe now's not the best time to spell out how I feel about her, but I can't just not see her…not after seeing her with that guy...what if she's nuts about him...uh-uh_…

Danny was at her door in a matter of moments, he practically speed-walked. Again, after mentally counting to three, he rang her doorbell and waited with his heart in his mouth. He feared that his frantic pumper was pounding so loudly, it would wake up half the neighbors. When the bell wasn't answered, he wondered if he should ring it again. Impulsively, he pushed it in again, forcefully.

Frustrated, he rang it again, and, this time, finally, it brought Kono to her front door.

"Danny?"

She was a sultry, strong-willed champion in his watery eyes.

"Uh…yeah."

"Is everything all right. You look kind of wrecked."

"It's been one hell of a day. Check?"

"True that." Kono took a step back from the jamb of her door. "I was just about to fix myself a snack. Shower after that and turn in."

All of that sounded really nice, especially the showering and turning in part. "Sounds like a plan…hey, uh…"

"Are you hungry, _brah_?"

He was starving courtesy of an entirely different sort of hunger. "As a matter of fact, I was hoping that maybe we could—"

"Wanna come in?" Her invitation was just what he needed to hear right now.

"Uh, yeah. Sure, I'd like that. I'd like to talk with ya. I know it's late…"

"Get in here." Kono opened up the door wider, making it clear that it wasn't that late. "For real, it's fine. I'll fix you something too and you can talk away. How's that?"

Following avidly on her heels, Danny assured, "Hey, that's great. Just great…thanks."

TBC…


	7. The Way To A Man's Heart

Danny looked at his watch, he stared at it for a whole minute before he commented, "Wow! Look at the time." He downed the smidgen of the frosty guava juice in the wide-bottom tumbler and set the glass down to the side of his plate, careful to place it on its coaster. His plate was clean. Nothing remained of the minute steak she'd served him. Kono had pan fried the beef, lightly seasoned it and sautéed the four tender sirloin cubes in butter. Three of them were for Danny, one for her. His eyes had tipped her off just how hungry he was.

While watching her fix his spur-of-the-moment meal, Danny had remarked, "I laugh at the notion of my cholesterol being high. Lay that butter on thick, Chef."

"You got it, brah." Kono had gone to the fridge to get some onions, the Bermuda kind. She had gotten Danny to chop them up just the way they should have been. He had hardly shed a tear. As he had chopped away, she asked him, "Do you cook?"

With a generous smile Danny had replied, "Who? Me?" He'd given her the most outlandish look his face could conjure. "I feel like I've stepped into the world of Iron Chef."

Kono laughed, easily, as though the turmoil of today had never happened. "Ah...one of my favorite shows, when I'm around to watch it."

"You really know your way around the most important room of any house."

She'd arched an eyebrow and had flashed him a brilliant smile. "The way to a man's heart..."

"Is through..." Danny had actually blushed, thinking about what he'd been about to say. There was no reason in the world for him to come across as being desperate. True, he wasn't seeing anyone and he wanted to be seeing not just anyone since Gabby and he were on again, off again. The pert museum curator was a wonderful lady, intelligent and lovely, but maybe just not robust enough for him. The kind of lady who suited him was putting the finishing touches on the food she was making sure he would like. Clearing his throat and raising his voice, Danny had awarded, "This is great! Absolutely terrific! Y'know, you're very..." His brain going a mile a minute, he had culled it for just the right thing to say. "Cu-spiffy, yeah, spiffy when you throw down."

"I have a very willing sous chef as my helper."

Danny's face had gone all goofy-looking and he'd teased, "I'm a master 'microwaver.' Grace likes her tater tots. I got better at nuking them and learned not to burn them like I used to every time I made some for her."

Kono had kept up the good-natured grinning along with him.

Eventually, she had gone on to smother the tender sirloin in onions and had Danny's mouth watering for days.

He hadn't wanted a salad. The closest thing to his consuming anything green was Hawaiian style piccalilli relish he'd heaped atop the steak. Kono had whipped up some steamed wild rice blended with a smattering of zucchini to go with the meat that she'd cooked to perfection.

It was getting late, and Kono was clearing the table. Thoughts about the day's case flitted in and out of Kono's conscious thought. Danny was feeling full and he yawned several times. Gratitude oozed from him, but he rigidly restrained himself from belching. Awkwardness had no business coming between them. He felt comfortable in Kono's presence, but there was no need to push the envelope. He asked if he could make her a cup of coffee. First, he needed to know where she kept hers and if she had a coffeemaker. Kono got the coffee and led him to the coffeemaker.

"I know how you like it."

Kono smiled over at him and retorted, "I know you know."

As he went about preparing the coffee, he said off-the-cuff, "Y'know, we should go out sometime." With nonchalance, he glanced over his shoulder to gauge her reaction. Kono was at the dishwasher, loading in a few things. Danny continued, "Remember how I mentioned that at Steve's the night of the beach party?" He was taking his being circumspect to another level, one which he hoped would not make Kono feel she was being pressured. Purposely, he read her body language. The image of Kono and Adam sitting on her front steps snuggling was still fresh in Danny's memory.

"Are you asking me out?"

Kono's challenging look when she faced around to him forced him to reassess what he was really asking. He wanted her to forget all about Adam Noshimuri, his saving her life, whatever they may have started, the whole _enchilada_. Danny brought her cup of coffee to her, blowing on it to cool it off. Handing it off to her, he nodded.

"I am...but it's entirely up to you if you think we should go out."

Her coffee wasn't hot, it certainly wasn't too cool. It was just right. After taking a slow, savoring sip, she looked directly into Danny's eyes and said, "I think we should."

The energetic smile Danny shot Kono reached into the depths of his sea-blue eyes. Huskily, he replied, "I think we should too."


	8. She Asked Him For A Favor

With heavy hearts, Kono and Danny had held hands throughout the paddle-out ceremony for Malia. The _ohana_ present wore leis and had arranged themselves in a circle around her ashes. Hands had been joined to hands, along with hearts and minds united in mutual love, to honor the fallen soul-mate, wife, daughter, relative and friend. At various intervals during the traditional funeral rite, Kono had squeezed Danny's hand as tightly as she could. He would look over at her and she'd be staring straight ahead, not blinking, as though she had turned to stone. She hadn't cried, but her groans broke his heart. He could only imagine how she must have felt, watching a shaking Chin, with tears in his eyes, bid a tender, solemn adieu to his true love upon the welcoming waves of the blue Pacific.

At the moment Malia's ashes had been released, those who made up the circle had cast their leis upon the waters. Chin had been transfixed, remembering how he had placed the same lei he was casting about Malia's neck during their wedding ceremony. He had buckled at this sad occasion, overcome by such agonizing feelings this funereal scene evoked. Once the touching ceremony had concluded, some _ohana_ had chosen to continue floating upon the surf of Waikiki for a while. Chin had been one of those. Others had slowly paddled back to shore to be received by those who had waited on the beach. There, a respectful get-together had been arranged for. Food had been served and mourners shared fond remembrances of Mrs. Chin Ho Kelly, nee Weston.

Steve, Danny and Kono had been among those who had chosen to remain with Chin. Finally, long after most of the others had departed from the beach, Chin, aboard the _wa'a_ (outrigger canoe), had begun heading for shore with the three paddling back with him. Steve had wanted to remain with Chin, having offered to drive him home, but he had declined McGarrett's kind offer. Kelly couldn't face going home to an empty house where his dead wife's presence lingered in every corner. Though the closest members of his _ohana_ had protested, Chin had made it clear that he needed a little time alone; they needed to give him some space. He appreciated their concern, but solitude was what he needed now. They had watched him walk away, heading back down to the beach.

Kono had called after him that she wanted to stay with him, he should let her.

Dragging his steps, her cousin had never looked back, had just kept walking down to where he'd left his heart, on the beach, having chosen to stand between two towering palm trees. Kono had wanted to go after Chin, but Steve and Danny both talked her out of it, at least for the time being. Steve had caught her by one arm, Danny by the other. They had pointed out that sometimes, it was the wiser thing to just let the bereaver grieve solitarily until she or he desired company. Kono hadn't been happy, but she had complied as her well-meaning _ohana_ had suggested.

Steve had gone back to his truck where Catherine had been waiting for him. Kono had looked so defeated and adrift, not having known what to do, or where to go, except her wanting to stick close to Chin and comfort him any way she could.

Having tried to read her thoughts as best he could, Danny had offered to stay with her, if that was okay. Maybe they could go off and talk about everything. All the stuff that had gone down following the insane events that had ensued like dominoes toppling ever since McGarrett had taken off so he could get to the bottom of Shelburne.

Bemused, but grateful that Danny had offered, Kono had given him a warm, predisposing smile. However, before she had been able to open her mouth to reply, their commander was ordering them to duty—not Chin, just them. McGarrett had strictly ordered him not to even think about coming back to work until he'd given himself sufficient time to heal. The call Steve had received had informed him about an art heist, responsible for utter mayhem in broad daylight, that had gone down in the vicinity of the Aloha Tower.

Several hours later, the team had unraveled this complex case that had been peppered with red herrings and abrupt twists and turns. Yet again, Five-O had brought it to an anticlimactic resolution. August March, the wily old rascal, who had seemed sympathetic and harmless in that first case they'd called him in on, had deliberately shuffled himself into traffic to bring a grisly end to his life. It was gratifying that the daughter of the former racing car driver had been found alive and had been reunited with her grateful mother, beside herself over her child's momentous rescue.

That night, following the end of the case, the team was kicking back at their favorite, ideal hang. They were there to celebrate and spend more time with Chin, who still needed a lot more condoling. Before Danny and Kono had gone to sit at the festive table with the rest, Kamekona auspiciously included, she had asked of Danny a special favor:

"Would you do something for me?"

"For you?" He grinned with her having pulled him aside. "Anything."

"I know it won't be easy," Kono broached, hesitant. "I've tried, but I don't know what to say. And when I do, it doesn't come out right. I get all tongue-tied and flustered."

The beating of Danny's heart picked up, and he anticipated what he thought she might be saying. "I said anything, and I mean anything. Now, shoot."

"All I'm good for is hugging him to pieces." Muddled, Kono gazed into Danny's supportive eyes. "Could you speak to Chin. I mean, if you get a chance to. If it seems like he needs a listening ear. Maybe you could just hear him pour out his heart that's hurting so much. I'd so appreciate it if you would, Danny."

It wasn't what he'd expected, but gave no concrete indication that her request was a letdown. Her request filled him with the peace of mind that comes when someone you care about values your help. Danny looped his arm through hers as he guided her to the table where the gang was. Quietly, he assured, "You've got it, partner. First sign I see he gives, I'm on it."

"Thanks, Danny. I can always count on you."

"Always…"

They had sat down together and avidly joined in the camaraderie.

Not quite a half hour later, Danny got his chance to act on what Kono had asked.

Serenely, she watched him head for Chin, who had gotten up from their table to go stand alone on the twilighted beach. Kono smiled and softly said in an undertone, "Always." She smiled at Steve then, and he quickly smiled back.

"Everything okay, Kono?"

"Sure is, Steve." Her eyes drifted over to where her cousin and Danny were conversing and she filed the sight carefully away in her memory.

TBC


	9. He's Got A Nibble

Anything involving Steve McGarrett and water spelled trouble with a capital T, as far as he was concerned. Until blue in the face, Danny had, at first patiently, tried to explain, then less patiently, _stressed_ to McGarrett that the dinky boat intended for their spending a day out at sea on was too little. Way too little for it to be safe to venture out so far from land. Sure there were lifejackets aboard, but the idea of donning one because the boat you were on was sinking, blowed. It was a simple fact that being surrounded on all sides by water was not Danny's idea of a good time. He thought about that time he'd gone fishing with his cousin Joey, the son of his father's brother, off the Jersey Shore. The only way Joey had gotten him to set foot on that boat was having promised Danny that there was no way the Betty Jean II, a boat that was practically brand new, would capsize or sink. And, true…the seventy foot long, eighteen foot wide vessel, with her twin twelve cylinder diesel engines, which had been outfitted with the latest electronics and was Coast Guard-inspected to carry 107 passengers, plus crew, had proven totally seaworthy. That was his idea of what a boat should be if and when someone had the lamebrain idea of putting out to sea.

What was supposed to have been a relaxing day..._deep sea fishing_... Danny shook his head with a slight flinching of his left cheek. To the ex-Navy SEAL, even fishing was entering into the arena of hand to fin combat. Nearly everything was a battle, not to mention the non-stop 'boat-u-ments.' He must have been suffering from acute amnesia when he'd agreed to go on the fateful excursion with aqua man. Danny made a concession, though, having to give it to Steve. The tattooed man swam like he had been born with webbed fingers, fins and gills. Would he take McGarrett up on another fishing expedition? _Never gonna happen again_. Having gone to help a faker in 'distress,' they had wound up in a shot-up dingy. _SEAL versus shark_, Danny thought with a smirk as he tried concentrating on what he was watching on T.V. No-the encounter would not make 'Shark Week' on the Discovery Channel since the Navy SEAL knew when to back down from a man-eater. _Man alive_—that tiger shark had been ginormous. They had nearly been apprehended by the Coast Guard, 'Miranda-ized' like they had been run-of-the-mill perps. If it hadn't been for the rest of the team back ashore credentialing them, he and Steve would have been wearing those cuffs all the way to Oahu. Danny reminded himself to thank Kono and Chin profusely for identifying him and 'MacGyver,' in the guise of the super SEAL, to restore their authenticity as upholders of the law.

Aside from having gotten better at surfing, which he had under Kono's careful, tireless tutelage, Danny was a landlubber and proud of it. In the dingy, he had explained to Steve why he feared water so. True, his seemingly irrational fear was anything but. It had a solid basis in 'Williams-logic,' owed to Danny's keen sense of self-preservation. Billy Selway having drowned at Wildwood, a city in Cape May New Jersey, had left an indelible scar on his psyche for all things aquatic. He didn't relish putting himself in the position of getting caught by a wayward undertow so his body was then later found three miles down some beach.

Grace loved the water, all kinds…whether it was at a beach, pool, pond, river, bay, or stream. As soon as she could walk, she was jumping and splashing in puddles. Rachel hadn't loved it, but Danny used to love dancing around her in those puddles. Older now, his spunky little girl couldn't get enough of surfing, and Danny was glad that Kono had taught her. She had great patience and natural educative ability, and Det. Kalakaua was straight-up dishy. Seeing her in bikinis wasn't torture. Danny never tired of giving his thought processes free rein when thoughts of Kono entered his mind. They slowed, and he dallied, blissfully musing about how fine Kono was. She fascinated Danny, which included how she really felt about Adam Noshimuri.

This question kept popping up: Were she and Danny seeing each other now, officially? They'd had a couple of dates, so he wanted to believe that there was this 'thing' developing between them. It made him believe that a way was being paved for their having a solid relationship. He hoped he wasn't wrong. As the days, weeks and months wore on, it was clear to him that he had developed real feelings, very emotional ones, for the Hawaiian charmer. More and more, they just gravitated to each other.

At first he had thought maybe it would be Kono and Steve. They had heaps more in common, and it had seemed that Steve had become less sure of his relationship with Catherine Rollins. She was back, and from what Steve had explained, here to stay put more than she had been. Her military assignment had changed, affording Steve and she to be with each other much more. Time would tell if it would lead to stabilizing whatever it was they had.

Like a slowpoke, Danny blinked, realizing that what he was watching on his flat screen had failed to hold his attention. What was on had become little more than background noise. He had no idea what was going on, despite his having seen this episode before. Lt. Sharon 'Boomer/Athena' was up to her old tricks again. Danny squinted, scrubbed the palm of his hand over his face and groaned. Odd how the actress who played the lieutenant bore an odd resemblance to Kono…

The dimpled beauty was…an oasis in a 'desert' of tropical excess. He never tired thinking about how—

Somebody was at his door, calling.

Danny rose from his lumpy, laden with random chits and jottings on stray pieces of paper, couch. He ignored the HD set and went straight for the door of his latest one-bedroom accommodations. The low-rise, low-rent complex was just another in a long line of deck access residences in a rundown setting where he currently lived. When the breeze blew just right, aromas of Chinese food, mingled with Japanese and Greek cuisine, wafted by his closed-in cubical that was laughably thought of as a terrace. It gave him a partially-blocked view of some beach he hadn't bothered to learn the name of.

"Who?" Ridiculously, the peep-hole was an uncomfortable stretch for him to peer through.

"It's me."

Danny opened right up without a moment's hesitation. Why suppress the goofy smile she elicited? He got a big kick out of her when she turned her girlish dimples on him full force. He was putty when she beheld him with _those_ eyes, her jazzy eyes. She was dressed casually, wearing a no sleeved blouse, the color of ink and her jeans were a steely sort of soft gray. Her clothes fit her to perfection, as usual. He swore she had once told him that she had modeled. Was it swimsuits, or lingerie?

_Get your mind out of the mire_, he admonished himself. _See, this is why she should have nothing to do with you. Gabby was too good for you; so's Kono. The difference with Kono is, she knows she is, but she doesn't rub my nose in it. Which makes me want her even more, of course_.

He was always glad to see her. "Do what do I owe the plea—"

"I offered you a ride, remember? To Kamekona's? Click? Since your car's in the shop." Her sight flitted to the T.V. "_Brah_, seriously? You're joking, right? _Battlestar Gallactica_?" Kono forged right into his boxy apartment.

Danny snapped to better alertness. "Oh, yeah, yeah. Right. The car's in the shop. Shrimp chef promised to transform my tuna into a masterpiece of culinary delight. I…" He began scratching the side of his head, wondering why that area of his scalp felt so tender. Undoubtedly it must have been related to what he'd had to endure having been marooned. He stuck his head through the door opening as though he were reconnoitering as if Kono had perhaps been followed. Those who belonged to certain circles were aware that she and Adam were on friendly terms. She'd made herself a target of his enemies. That knowledge gave Danny a very queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He hoped Noshimuri never came back here, just stayed in Japan where he should be. Far, far away from this splendid woman he was falling for-hard.

Closing the door, satisfied that she hadn't been shadowed, he joined Kono where she stood to bask in her stateliness. In his book, she was quite the queenly gal; all she surveyed was her regality. He'd be her whatever she commanded he must be to please her.

Kono posed in front of the flat screen for several seconds, taking in all the theatrics of the sci-fictional show while its drama played out on the screen. Somebody was about to be double-crossed; Kono chuckled. This happened to be one of her favorite episodes. Number Eight was about to plug Commander Adama. Then later, her false memories would come back to haunt her.

"You're about to put down my taste in entertainment?"

Half-listening to Danny, Kono sluggishly replied, "Uh…huh?" This series was off the charts. "What?"

"Well, excuse me," Danny slipped in under his breath. "It so happens that this—"

"It's the marathon, isn't it?" Kono sought Danny's eyes eagerly as though within them was buried the key to all the mysteries of life.

"Yeah—yeah it is. Why?" He tucked the annoyance that had precipitously risen up within himself away. Her unanticipated question catapulted him into being all sweetness and charm.

"I was hoping to catch at least _one_ episode. You know how hectic our lives can get."

"True dat, true dat. Yup. The marathon it is. Y-you're a fan?"

"You sound shocked. Do these waters have tiger sharks?" she asked, grinning.

"Again, true dat. The humongous one that went after Steven while he was trying to tow us to land looked like it wanted to have _him_ tattooed all over itself."

"Wow, that was really brave of the boss to get into that water in the first place and start swimming for home."

If the fishing trip had been Steve's bid for them to bond more, the attempt hadn't been a roaring success.

"Let's change the subject, if you don't mind. It is, what now has become, a part of my past I don't wish to relive." Danny tried not to sound bitter, but he wasn't able to pull it off. "I could have drowned, or have been eaten by that shark too."

"You managed to catch your first _Ahi_, though," Kono gently reminded him. It was a nice-sized fish, she thought to mention then too.

"And right after that we got boat-jacked!" He rolled his eyes, which he had bugged-out. "And then after we board the boat ditched by our hijacker, Scates, and discover the dead body he left behind, the Coast Guard swiftly sailed in all ready to arrest us." He took a much needed breath. "Oh, and here's another big 'thank-you' hug for what you and Chin did to get us out of that jam."

He pulled Kono to his body, as though he were going to have them dive for shelter during a bombing raid. He squeezed her tight and held on, wishing again how she could have been there at the dock, waiting for him, to do this, hold onto him for dear life, the way Catherine had been there for Steve. A hug like that from Kono would have steadied his buckling legs when they had been shakily, and gratefully, reacquainted with dry land.

He steered clear from coming off being needy, but he craved being part of a couple again. There wasn't any woman finer that Kono to be part of that couple with.

Glum, he had stormed past Steve and Catherine, having left gloominess in his wake.

"You're one in a million, you know that?" he whispered against Kono's coconut-fragrant hair.

"Thanks, Danny." She had stammered a tad noticeably.

She took her time before expressing what was coursing through herself. When they had not been able to contact them by phone, Kono had ordered that she not think about Danny never coming back. He...and the boss too...lost at sea. It was too unthinkable. She had grown close with the feisty blond, and not solely due to their having a tight working relationship. In purely emotional terms, she felt the way she liked feeling when they were together. She could relax with him and go on to shine. He had this unique way of grounding her; it was a huge comfort. Chin was family, Steve was her rock. Danny was her beacon, guiding her to a clearer close-up of herself. At times what she saw forced her to stop and take stock. She'd make what adjustments she needed to make and radiate with greater intensity. He didn't know about this effect he had on her, but one day, maybe...she'd tell him, that, and more.

"No. _Thank you_, Kono."

"Once I knew you were back safely, I was breathing a lot easier." Then she'd had that awkward and irritating conversation with Chin concerning Adam and whether pursuing a relationship with him was wise. As it was, he wasn't here in Hawaii; he'd just whisked himself away. Kono thought she knew why from the bit he had spoken. It was important that he legitimize the family business. She hoped that his effort would not be in vain. Adam really was a caring, likeable guy.

Danny felt Kono begin to tremble lightly. He judged he should unmesh himself from her invitingly firm, supple body, and he brought up again, "So…you're a big fan of _Battlestar G_."

Kono nodded and swatted some air his way. With the same hand, she rubbed her fingers against her nose. "A big, big fan. Of the original series and what followed. We're talking some great moments in sci-fi with those shows."

"Absolutely." He'd hatched an idea while listening to her go on about one of his top favorite programs. He rubbed the back of his neck with a heavy hand and began tentatively, "We could—I mean, that is if you wanted to—stay and watch some of it together. I'll order pizza; I got beer..."

Kono, after thrusting her arms out to her sides, sort of stamped her foot. "You're forgetting. We promised to show up at the shrimp truck for your catch of the day transformed into something mouthwatering and edible, courtesy Kamekona."

_How cute is she when her cage gets rattled and she's a little ticked_, Danny considered, eating her moodiness up.

"We could forget to, you know, go."

"Nah. We couldn't do that…could we?"

Danny was on the move, already making himself comfy on the couch and he patted the spot closely next to where he was for her to join him. He had his phone in his other hand about to place that pizza order. He held off long enough since he could see Kono was looking iffy. "What about showing up real late for the banquet? By the time we arrive, everything's eaten so there's nothing to stick around for."

Sounding ambivalent, she remarked, "They would save something for us. Hey-you caught the fish." Yet, she liked his idea, but didn't have the heart to disappoint Chin, Steve and of course the gregarious chef, who had touted that the _poke_, which was a raw fish salad, he planned on fixing would 'overwhelm' their taste buds-of course in a good way. "How 'bout…we show when we're supposed to, chit-chat a little, eat a little, then split early?"

"It's your call." All smiles, Danny went along with her suggestion without a hint of protest. "I'm for that."

"Great!"

"Oh, but before we take off…how about another one of these?" He moved off the couch and right into her face. "Just feels right. Y'know?"

Kono pursed her lips and slipped into his arms. In his warm, possessive embrace, she said inches from his ear, "Remember when you said that, 'pre-nup has killed more guys than cancer?' And I said: 'You'd better check those statistics?'"

"For your information, I did check."

"And?" She had an eyebrow arched, but her face was buried in the fabric sheathing his shoulder.

His arms tightened around Kono and in a deep, rich voice Danny confided, "Whether guys smoked or not has a lot to do with the mortality rate."

Kono laughed, matching his tone. "According to the American Cancer Society?"

"Nah. The other one. The _Heart Association_…"

Kono breathed in his manly scent and sighed. "Think you'll ever get married again?"

"If some appealing sweetie swims by and hopefully I've got the right bait." Danny crowded into her face again and Kono giggled when he kissed her cheek. "I'd definitely consider it."

"Let's go."

Easing away from her, Danny replied, "What kinda bait _you_ like, sweetie?"

Kono grabbed his hand and tugged. Winking at him slyly, she quipped, "Keep fishing and you might find out."


	10. Crackheads

So...they were going to have 'the talk.' The one wherein Danny hoped to hear that Kono was over Adam Noshimuri, over like yesterday. The bantam man, short in stature, but statuesque in swagger would twinge. His nurturing the belief that the hard-boiled feminine side of 5-0 was getting past residual romantic feelings she harbored for his rival made him stand taller. When Danny looked at Kono now, he saw what incited him. Kono was moving on; she was in the tricky process of getting that shady man out of her system. The best thing she could do was make a clean break of it.

That was the detective's plan, but the treatment had to be handled delicately. _So far, sort of good_, he thought. Noshimuri's absence was better than a gift-wrapped present. Danny assessed that he was handling matters well, not being pushy, overly aggressive. They were doing friendly things together such as, watching T.V., hanging out at beaches…ones he could not visit with Grace since he wasn't a native, and bore the onus of being a _haole_…and hiking in some very scenic locales. He discovered that he didn't have to be 'Jungle Jim' to have a great time with her as she pointed out interesting tidbits about Hawaiian flora and fauna. She was a toothsome, knowledgeable guide with a vivid sense of humor. Once, on a breathtakingly beautiful fine day, they had packed a lunch, well Kono had actually been the one who had made the food, and had eaten the tasty spread on a huge rock by a three-pronged waterfall. Invitingly, she had invited him to take a dip with her in the natural pool created by the refreshing cascade, but he had declined. He hadn't even made a face, but he'd made it clear that he was content to watch her do her amphibian thing. Kono had done as he'd wished, diving deep into the aquatic fissure. While sunning herself upon the rock, it had been the appropriate occasion, and he had explained to her why he and water had an arm's length relationship.

"Oh, no. Danny—I'm sorry about your friend," she had tenderly commiserated.

Chin, Kono and he were 'hanging loose' at Kamekona's truck anticipating Doris' and Steve's arrival. Catherine Rollins was also on hand, a little hyper for Steve's showing up. Sunny days, such as these, were therapeutic. Once the team wrapped a case, invariably, they all wound up here to kick back, let off steam and feast on the gregarious Hawaiian's tasty eats. The latest solved investigation had been a particularly bizarre one. Decapitation wasn't the usual modus operandi effected to eliminate one's enemy. The one-time kidnap victim, having turned out to be the double-murderer, might have added Steve and him to his list if it hadn't been for McGarrett's deadeye aim.

There was an aspect of this case that had rendered Danny extremely thoughtful, resulting in his having divulged to Kono that he was a, 'complicated man.' Looking back, he wished they had not gone to that fortuneteller, despite its having been in the line of duty. He did not welcome clairvoyance, precognition, nor hocus-pocus, regardless of what he had related to Kono about that New Jersey case in his past. What it boiled down to for him was having dealings with the occult, which had nothing to do with being superstitious. There were practices and customs people had no business getting involved with for reasons that lay beyond the borders of mortal understanding. Giving them a wide berth was the course of wisdom, which was why he had decided not to take that apartment a while back.

If Kono and he were meant to be, they would be, case closed—amen. It would not be because some freaky female with silver studs pierced into her face had made that claim. Inwardly, Danny bristled when he thought about that whole mumbo jumbo scene he'd shared with Kono. She didn't believe on the basis of feeling that a charlatan was at work. With Danny it wasn't so much that; people such as she were given ability by unseen forces who used them to accomplish their bidding. As he thought again to himself, he had seen and knew a lot about such things.

He stopped thinking along those dark lines on such a gloriously sunny day as this one, sitting here with close friends. Lazily, his eyes drifted back over to his focal point of concentration. Sighing, he smiled, his lips following the same course his eyes had chosen. He could submit that from day one having met Kono, the smiting had begun. Whenever he felt blue, out of touch and lonely, his mind would transport him back to that sun-splashed beach and she filling that bikini, how hot she had been in it. He had chastised himself for having briefly thought about her out of it. She loved bikinis and he loved seeing her in them. Over the course of months, it had been child's play just how easily he had gotten entangled in a certain bodacious brunette's mystique. The thought of his being putty in Kono's hands made him lightheaded as the light in that certain someone's eyes brought him back to the present and its parameters.

"Yo," Danny exhaled, lightly fanning himself. "This sun is murder."

Catherine and Kono were seated on the same side of the picnic table; Chin and he were facing opposite them. Kono spoke in a low, patient voice with Chin.

"Hey, Ko?" When Danny caught her eye, he gave her a smile earmarked as her property.

An eyebrow of Chin's lifted and the widower half-smiled, then it lessened until it evaporated. His painful loss, a constant burden, had sapped so much of his mirth. An easy, almost daffy familiarity between his cousin and the transplanted cop was plain. Even now, Chin wasn't one-hundred percent certain he was okay with the development ever since the festive get-together at Steve's private beach, in his backyard. He regarded them in that inscrutable way he had, the way Malia used to call him on. This was the first time he had ever heard Danny call Kono by that. And the way he'd said it...as if they were a couple in _intimate_ cahoots up to their eyeballs. Was Adam out of the picture and 'Danno' in—way in?

An amused expression crossed Chin's face, lasting a moment. He nipped Danny's ribcage with his elbow, dragging the musing daydreamer from his woolgathering.

"Hey—"

"What was that for?" Chin cajoled.

"What was _what_ for?"

"That spooky look on your face?"

"Never mind. I can see by that look on _yours_ that I caused it."

"In a way, yeah."

Danny waved Chin off, unwilling to surrender his fanciful thoughts just then. His eyes returned to the object of his affection. Scaring Kono away, making her feel uncomfortable, as if she just had to go for him, or else he'd flake out or something, would mean defeat with a capital D. In no way was he going to morph all psycho on her and her recourse would be to ignore him and hope he'd leave her alone. Sighing, Danny reflected. _When_ were they going to have the conversation they needed to have was the big question. Her reticence about where she and Adam stood had Danny on pins and needles. She _never_ felt inclined to speak about the Yakuza mystery man. She treated the subject as null and void, not open to discussion. Steve and Chin knew that Noshimuri had fled to Japan at Steve's insistence. He had ordered Adam to go there and get his house in order. Doing whatever it took so that when he did return, he would be smelling as fresh as daisies and as sweet as roses, then, maybe, he would be good enough for the likes of Kono. She only had knowledge of where he had gone, and partial comprehension of his reason for going. She knew nothing of Steve's vowing to break his neck if he did not clear out to give Kono space to think.

"It was the strangest thing I ever saw," Kono said suddenly. She had been talking with Catherine privately, but opened this up to the group. "Well, both of us..."

Danny raised both eyebrows; his brow furrowed. 'Both of us?' To whom was she referring?

Chin engaged her. "And what was that, Cuz? Danny actually pulling out so many bills to pay for something?"

Danny cracked wise. "Wha'? One of those rare times my smile didn't get it?"

Kono elaborated for her listeners and she couldn't help crediting his smile for getting to her too easily. "No. And I've actually seen you shell out cash."

"See," Danny dropped like a lead pipe. "There's my witness."

That tickled one and all enough to make them laugh.

"Uh huh, but I'm talking about when we were strolling along Steve's stretch of beach and those dolphins of that pod in perpetual motion frolicking with each other, were so close to us."

Sounding casual, Danny agreed and took a read on everyone's reactions, Chin's especially. "Cool; very cool it was."

"Unusual," Chin noted.

"I so love dolphins," Catherine introduced. "Highly intelligent-scary sometimes." She had such a warm, disarming smile. "But, I just love 'em."

"Not to mention SEALs," Danny touted with twinkles, which made his eyes more alluring.

"Speaking of marine life-"

"Were we?" Danny rejoined, trying not to sound like he had a beef. He had a good idea where Steve's unofficial girlfriend was going with this.

"Congratulations again for that catch you made," Catherine needled. "Steve told me, but I forgot. What bait did you use?"

"Like I would know? And, it was beginner's you-know-what," Danny rejoined and swiftly swung his legs out from under the table. He had just spotted Steve's truck and shot Kono a quick look.

She didn't hold his gaze long; she was getting a text.

No guesses who was texting her. She began working her fingers vigorously, not hiding the fact that she was wholly absorbed in the process. She did nothing to suppress the smile on her lips, which had Danny feeling left out and sorely insecure. He glanced over to Steve's truck and saw that mother and son were having a talk. Even from this distance, he could see that the looks on their faces ran the gamut of emotions. He grimaced, having a good idea what was being discussed. Wo Fat was still at large although Doris had had pointblank opportunity to nail him. The cloak-and-dagger texture of the boss' situation irked Danny, and he thought about 'the talk' again. Irritated, he forced himself to think about something else while he watched Kono avidly texting.

His frown loomed noticeably and it was Catherine who piped up with, "Hey, Danny, why the long face?"

Glum, he panned his eyes exuding mood over to McGarrett's truck and, finally, Doris and Steve were on the move to join the group. When they advanced on the table, Danny jumped up to give Doris his seat. She and Steve exchanged pleasantries and he went on to the shrimp truck. Danny was hot on his heels. If there was a getting to the bottom of Doris' furtive behavior, her son was the man for the mission. In Steve's and Danny's huddle, trenchant words were exchanged. Some tension between them existed since Steve was being a bit closemouthed, but it all boiled down to this:

"Do you believe her?" Danny asked, his voice allusive.

Tersely, and in a word, Steve replied, "No!" It hurt him to think it, let alone admit it, but he doubted that his mother was being squeaky clean truthful with him.

Trying not to look as grim as they felt, the two friends returned to the table in time to hear Kamekona dispel the myth that only a trained chef could prepare a sumptuous shrimp dinner in ten minutes. He was living proof that it could be done. Danny was relieved seeing that Kono had finished texting. He tried catching her eyes and was rewarded with hers readily latching unto his. A conspiratorial look passed between them and she nodded. Danny was pumped. Just a week ago they had shared the self-same look at this very table when intent on stealing away to finish watching the marathon they'd had their hearts set on viewing together.

Today was a repeat performance; they had a date with her T.V. and another marathon, '_Star Wars,_' this time. Some pineapple-yes, pineapple-carrot cake cupcakes awaited Danny; they were a special treat. A while ago, she had made a batch and had brought them to work. Danny had flipped over them. She had alluded to his being a good 'boy' would earn him more. And he had been one, a very good boy, collaborating with her on reports, offering to accompany her to recreational surfing events, as well as picking her up for work and driving her home when she had lent her car to some relative or friend.

Danny was a compact powerhouse, sweet and, she could admit it, loveable. It wasn't the first time she found herself more than a little attracted to him, and they had kissed quite a bit since that night on the beach. Since she knew she had this strangely potent effect on him, she had begun thinking of him more as her personal honey-bear rather than just a business-as-usual workmate. Quickly, she blasted out of the doldrums because she missed Adam. She preferred inhabiting Danny's take-nothing-so seriously world, to enjoy some additional one-on-one downtime with this interesting man.

"Again, you two?" Steve lobbed at the departing twosome who were making it conspicuous and obvious that they were bent on going their separate ways.

Chin arched an eyebrow at them. Doris regarded them with some very pursed lips. Catherine winked at her and Steve looked like a calling card for clueless.

"Hate to socialize and run, people, but I've got some hard-earned relaxation to check up on." Danny waved at the speculative group, then turned and sprinted to his Camaro.

Kono said, "Catch up with you later, guys."

Sounding like a wise guy, Steve remarked, "Whose place this time, Ko? Yours, or..." He pointed over to where Danny's car had been.

She zipped the invisible zipper on her lips closed, with a smile, and soon she was at her car, waving goodbye, then drove away. She planned on stopping at a convenience store to pick up some guava juice for Danny since she had run out.

Arriving home, she pulled the Cruze into her driveway and removed the grocery bag containing two bottles of juice. She spied Danny's car under the stately tree in front of the neighbor's to the right of her house. He wasn't in his car; he was in her house. It was no big deal his having a key. His place could drive a person up its walls. Kono had figured that if he ever needed a place to just spread out in, hers was at his disposal.

"I got the juice you like," she informed him.

He was lounging on the sofa with her dainty flat screen television all warmed up. The movie was up to the part where the _Millennium Falcon_ had gone into the mammoth asteroid to evade the Empire's star destroyers.

"Yo, Ko, what took you so long?"

Answering him from the kitchen, she retorted a la Danny, "I got lost."

"Hurry up. This isn't fun here all by myself." The urge to ask who had texted her rose up, but he tamped it down. Did he have to ask? Really? _Let it be for now_, he warned himself, or risk giving himself a headache.

Kono glided up to the coffee table that was slightly off to the right side of the sofa and put the tray she toted down. "Help yourself."

"Don't mind if I do." He went right for the tempting cupcake closest to him; it was smothered in rose-peach colored frosting. He bit into the pastry, and with his eyes crossed said, "Heavenly."

Having sat herself down delicately beside him, Kono soaked up his praise. "I know how much you like them."

"You bet." His initial cupcake was history with some zesty smacking of his sugary lips. He reached for one of the two clear-cut glasses containing juice and drank most of the guava nectar down. "Thirsty," he candidly admitted. "This stuff's the best."

Kono grinned, noting how he was making 'we've got something goin on' eyes at her.

"Oh, yeah. Here it comes. Look out, Princess, Han's all up in your grill."

With a chuckle, Kono whispered the same thing, but substituted names. Before Leah's and Han's lips met, Kono had her lips locked with Danny's, making sucking sounds as she savored them. Slowly, with sweet, painstaking care, she kissed her way to his neck and excruciatingly slow-moving around to the opening of his ear.

"I like you..."

The best response Danny could give was growling. He coaxed her head between his hands as though handling a carton of eggs and kissed her until she felt the ticklish sensation in the pit of her stomach bottoming out. She gasped for him not to stop. He had no intention of doing something crazy like that. He was just getting started. The more he gave of himself, the more Kono wanted. She had never used before; she was not using now. She was testing herself and testing out what was new to her.

Needing to breathe sometime, they finally came up for air.

"You didn't even hint that this was going to be a full-out make-out session, babe. I would have exercised my lips if I'd known."

"You're kidding? Your lips are Olympic gold medalists." Kono snuggled into his side that was made for snuggling. "I thought your expecting the unexpected is how you roll."

"You're perfect."

Kono grabbed what little there was of his middle and lightly squeezed his six pack. "I'm far from perfect, as if you don't know."

"You're my style of perfect." He snagged the squeezing hand, brought it to his lips and they worshipped her knuckles. The fineness of her skin mesmerized him. Thinking, which wasn't all that simple right now, about how 'now or never' she had set this stage, Danny hesitantly mentioned, "I stopped seeing Gabby."

"Why?" She'd had a feeling he had, but her asking him if he had hadn't felt right.

"Why...because...as wonderful a lady as she is, she's not for me. Like I said...you're my style."

"Danny...I...I d-don't know if..." She quivered against him and his arm found its place wrapped about her waist. "If I'm..."

"Over that guy."

"He has a name."

"Yeah. I've given him a few myself."

Kono squeezed his middle again, harder this time. "I don't want to know."

"I have no deep desire to tell ya. You won't find those words in the Urban Dictionary." His nose was nuzzling her hair that smelled as if she used shampoo made from some of the guava juice. "When I have to speak his name, my throat gets all scratchy and constricts." The way it was feeling this very moment, try as he could to not think about the man's name. Sounding husky, letting his hair down, he disclosed, "I want you, Kono, and I don't mean like the way I'm making it sound. With me, want is need and need with me has the habit of meaning love." Swallowing hard, he told it like it was. "I'm in love with you, Ko, and it's not all of a sudden. It's been building until I can't hold it in not telling you. No-it has nothing to do-not a thing with that whack weirdo we saw earlier today. I've kept my feelings for you close to the vest-"

"Danny," Kono whimpered.

"You love him. I kno-"

"I'm not all too sure the way I thought I was when he was here. Now with him gone...I'm all." She sounded about to cry, but getting angry with herself for being such a mess over this, she rallied and sparred with her termagant feelings. Candid words burst from her. "Just now...when you said you stopped seeing Gabby...it was like a weight, like a crushing boulder rolled off my chest."

Kono felt Danny's hand cup the back of her neck, holding it tightly. "I've still got mine sitting right where yours was on my chest. But, I can't-I won't ever make you say anything you don't feel, never will feel." He sighed, exhaling air that might have been trapped in his lungs since that first time their lips had met, when they had been working undercover under the noses of soulless men, who would have killed them on the spot if they had discovered that she and he were cops, posing as a sexy hostess and a high-rolling gambler.

"Do you trust me, Danny?"

"With my life, Ko, always."

"When he comes back, and he _is_ coming back. That's what he was texting me about, I will have to choose."

Danny gulped and she saw; she told herself that taking another breath was mandatory. Kono brushed her lips against his neck where his pulse throbbed; it was, strongly. "No. I won't put you through that. Look, if you're still madly in love with...A."

"I never said I was madly in love with, well, you know."

Danny munched on his lower lip and tried again, more convincingly. "Adam. So listen up. Your decision, whatever you decide, is solid with me, Ko. If he's it, we're still partners. I'll always have your back."

"I'll always have yours, Danny."

He drew it out when he kissed her forehead. "I won't be some sore nut-job loser about it if I'm not your pick. I'll lick my wounds and get on with what comes next."

"I could help you lick your wounds."

"You-you." He laughed his special laugh, which he had honed only for her. "Okay. It's getting mighty hot and heavy in here. Much too serious a deal while trying to devour a '_Star Wars_' marathon."

"I was thinking the same thing." Kono tugged at his neckline that was missing a tie.

Nodding, he smiled, feeling her wrap her arms around him. He kissed the crown of her lovely head.

During a commercial, Kono couldn't help herself. It was selfish and she knew it, but she was obsessing, needing to make sure that she hadn't hurt him too much. "Danny?"

"Huh?"

"Do you want to kiss me again?"

'Actions speak louder than words' was his codification of belief. He smothered Kono with his brand of love and affection until her senses were overwhelmed, she existed on another plane and would not be coming down anytime soon.

Kissing Danny was crack...


	11. Nothing But Treat

Kono was filing her nails and trying to watch the local news. The case the unit had just closed was being featured in the lineup of stories covered. What a gruesome, disturbing investigation it had been. The idea of that sicko torturing people, readying them for sacrifice, all done for the sake of worshipping his 'goat god,' as Danny had blown off, rattled her. Ritualistic killings were never cut and dry. Hawaii was paradisiac, but a lot of what went on here was a far cry from being idyllic. The perp had actually bored through Lisa Kerner and had yanked out her organs while she still lived.

It didn't get much worse than that.

Kono shut her eyes, trying to squelch the imagery her imagination conjured up. What if that had been she on that wire mesh torture table? No one had been on hand to rescue the hapless nursing student. Instinct told her that her _ohana_ would have moved heaven and earth to get to her in time before…

Another chill coursed through Kono. It seemed as though that with each Halloween, more and more crazies came to the fore. Why was that? Was it something in the air which compelled them to act out and indulge their monstrous fantasies? She was no psychologist, but it seemed to her that there was nothing hallowed, holy, or sacred about All Hallows' Eve. In fact, it was a field day for 'shrinks.' The festival of Samhain had deep pagan roots, as she had explained to the team. In the surface table, plasma screens/command room, the nerve center where the family gathered to brainstorm, play hunches, and solve thorny problems, she'd given them a vivid blow-by-blow of Halloween's profane origins. Eyebrow-raising and ominous, the celebration's inception filled Kono with an uneasiness she had never felt before this macabre case had come their way.

She stared at the television screen focused on what was running through her mind. Fact finding on the occult was fascinating, thoroughly absorbing and relevatory.

'The Festival Of The Dead…'

Another chill snaked up her spine as she considered more of what she had learned. Research was rewarding too. Easily, she could spend hours upon hours hunting up, exploring, and digesting unknown and little known facts. The best part of it was, she was getting paid for her trouble.

In bygone days, this time of year had marked the end of harvest season in various old world cultures. It ushered in the beginning of winter, or as many thought back then as, 'the darker half' of the year. Bonfires were lit calling for rituals; some of these cabalistic practices included human sacrifices. Divination was also employed in these ceremonies. The reasoning behind such observances had a common bond. At Halloween, it was upheld that the door to the 'Otherworld' was ajar just enough to allow supernatural entities admittance into the world of the living. Feasts were arranged to welcome these 'dead,' but measures were taken to ward off evil spirits that might also seek entrance into this world. People took to warding off those harmful spirits and their paramours. The steps taken were the basis for what became many of today's Halloween customs.

So much food for thought, Kono reflected as she channeled her deliberation elsewhere and gave herself a mental shake. Her parents had allowed her to go 'trick or treating' as a child. With the advent of puberty, her desire to get all dressed up and go from door to door pestering neighbors for candy had waned. Now, as an adult, Kono viewed Halloween as just another excuse for people who were up to no good to take advantage of the mindset.

With a prolonged sigh, she reached for the remote to change the channel, desirous of ditching news that grew older each day. It felt late, but it wasn't, a little past ten o'clock. She thought about Lisa Kerner, cringing involuntarily. The ghastly images of the pretty young blonde's carved up body loomed large in Kono's psyche that was beset with disquiet, hemming her in.

_What was that_? Kono listened for a moment, straining to hear what she thought she'd heard. She thought there had been a sound at the side of her house. Continuing to listen, she was on high alert. After several moments passed, nothing but silence reigned. Shaking her head, she went back to her self-administered manicure by reaching for the bottle of clear nail polish to unscrew the top.

Her application of the polish was slow and steady. She hated its strong, unpleasant smell, but if she didn't want nail breakage, she could put up with the reek.

There it was again…a sound…different from the one she judged she really had heard before. Rising from her couch, she decided arming herself was a necessary precaution. True, Frank Delano was dead, but those dirty ex-cops were still alive and well, and maybe one of them thought that he had a score to settle with her.

After dousing the light in her living room, Kono crept to her front door, feeling restless suddenly. The pulse in her neck was visible against her skin. Her service revolver shook a bit in her grip. She mentally chided herself for having forgotten to turn off her T.V. She suffered no suffocation of thought, however, reaching for the doorknob and opening up a crack. Through the sliver of space she created, her eyes fell upon a familiar physique belonging to one powerfully-built, not terribly tall man of the blond persuasion.

He was dressed all in black and wore a bright red cape. The goofy smile he had on his face went with the territory. He kept looking over his shoulder as though he had anticipated his having been followed.

_Kind of cute_…was Kono's thought. She continued to regard him, liking how the light from the street lit up his hair, his silky golden tresses. She never tired of running her fingers through them, and hear him chuckle while she did it. _But, he's way old for trick or treating, yeah? And Halloween is over. Well, if it's candy he's after, I can think of something better to give him…_

His movement had activated the motion detector light mounted above her door to his right. Relief was just an exhalation away as Kono lost her weapon, widened the crack, which was keeping them apart. Danny was fidgeting, she noticed, and half-glared, half-grinned at the more mouthy member of her _ohana_.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Her door stood wide open as did her heart, seeing his eyes light up like sparkling diamonds when he saw her. They did that a lot lately, ever since that smoldering kiss on her couch nearly two weeks ago.

The Jersey 'expat' was winning the war of attrition. Adam Noshimuri was going to have his work cut out for him, if he ever came back, reconquering Kono's heart.

Danny winked. His breathing was almost back to normal, Kono's beauty being wholly responsible for his shortness of breath. It had come to light all too obviously that Kono Kalakaua now owned the lion share of his heart. "Whoever you want me to be," he fairly growled.

"There's no party here, _brah_." Kono was suppressing her laughter as best she could. _He is just so damn cute_….

"The party's wherever you are."

That proclamation earned him an invitation to come inside. Once there, being warmly received into her home, Danny surmounted her. His arms locked her up as though they'd never release her. He breathed into her ear, "Forget the DJ. I'm gonna hook us up."

Within his arms, she trembled, no longer on edge, feeling safe and cherished. "Catch me, I'm falling…" Her chuckling was light, seeing Danny's reaction.

Danny brushed his lips across the side of her head. "No chance I'm gonna let you tumble. Unless, that is, you tumble for me."

Kono smoothed her hands over his cape and replied in kind, "That's my Superman…."

He liked her calling him that. He didn't think of himself being exactly like the 'man of steel,' but if Kono thought he was, it didn't hurt. "Hey, have you ever watched this movie called _'The Notebook_?'"

"No. Heard of it, though. Never got around to seeing it what with surfing competitions, thinking about surfing and competition."

"Wanna?" He cleared his throat, which had grown dry. "See the flick?"

"Now?"

Danny nodded and sounded intuitive. "Y'got Netflix..."

Shrugging Kono acknowleged that she was a subscriber. "So you want to watch '_The Notebook_' right now."

"Yeah."

Sounding suspicious, Kono said, "Okay, _brah_, if you haven't seen it, we can-"

"I didn't say I've never seen it. As a matter of fact, I have. Recently. It's, well, kind of cool."

He referred to having been forced to watch it a little less than two hours ago, camped on McGarrett's sofa, with a grumpy Steve, an indulgent Catherine and his ever-loving little lovely Monkey. At first he had balked. He wasn't a brute, but, seriously? '_The Notebook?_' He wasn't nearly as fond of chick flicks as he was action-adventure films. Forty-five minutes into the picture, he had begun thinking that _'The Notebook_''s sappiness wasn't overdone. Overall, the movie was tolerable. As he had watched, the notion struck that there was a certain beautiful someone he wouldn't mind sharing the experience of seeing it with. So, here he was.

"What I'm saying is that I wanna see it with _you_."

"And now's as good a time as any, huh?"

"Works for me and I hope for you. Tell me I'm not intruding."

Pulling her playfully along by her waist to her couch, Danny freely admitted that he could use her company. Their past case had shaken him up too. What if Gracie were ever nabbed by some maniac like that? He shuddered then, knowing he would go clean out of his mind.

"Okay. Sure. _Fine_. I wasn't doing anything important right now anyway. I've neglected my nails this long, I can-"

"You were doing your nails?"

"Uh huh, and watching T.V."

Danny spied the nail polish on her low coffee table. Sounding all pert and vegete, he offered, "I can paint your nails for you. That is, if you want..."

"I've never thought of you as the painting a woman's nails type."

"Oh, so now there has to be a certain type if a guy offers to apply polish to the nails of the woman he's crazy about?"

"No, no...I'm just sayin'."

They sat down together on the couch and Kono replied while going for the remote, "Whatever floats your boat, _brah_. This'll be a first."

"I just want to do you a favor is all. You do lots for me."

Kono acquiesced without another word, deciding that it would be fun seeing him at it.

While giving her cheek another kiss, Danny reminded, "_Please_-do me a favor, won't ya. Don't ever use the word _boat_ around me ever again."

Kono nodded profusely and cracked up. As had been true the last time he had shown up on her doorstep, there was no mention of his spending the night. What was mentioned was how natural it felt their being together, several times, while they were watching the ultra-romantic movie.

Not only was kissing Danny like crack, Kono kissing him back, her putting everything she had into it, was nirvana.


	12. How Does That Grab You?

Danny was like a giddy schoolboy following his 'Monkey's' father-daughter dance.

He couldn't stop talking about how proud he was of his sweet girl, how grown-up, well _not that_ grown-up she looked and behaved.

Kono praised him for how dapper and polished he looked, and apologized again about the crack she had made under Chin's influence, disparaging Danny's lack of dancing skills.

Danny told her to: 'Forget-about-it.'

That gentle, effortless smile of hers was tucked into her face, spreading deliberately like rarified honey taking its time when being poured. Kono, coupled with her welcoming facial expression, were 'curers.' She was wearing that benignant look for the most obvious reason. She was in love, and the man whom she loved was gloriously alive. The bomb hadn't been built, nor detonated, that could blast him out of her life.

The Boss and her sweetheart had survived despite how touch-and-go their ordeal had been. As the peaceful, easy feeling rose in her chest, Kono reached out her hand to clutch Danny's, which vibrantly pulsed with life.

She stiffened, as keen perception interfered, and with contact made, she made no effort to fight off tears. They stung her eyes, blurring her vision. At odds with her emotions surging through her, Kono said, "This is the man who painted my nails to perfection a week ago." Through a sigh, she continued, "The man I couldn't live without if anything had happened to you." Several fat tears spilled from her eyes. Unashamed, she did not whisk them from her face.

Danny did and indicated that they should hold each other as they sat on her rattan-based sofa listening to each other breathe. He buried his face in her breast and whispered in muted overtones, "It's all right, Ko. It's over and we're going to be all right."

"This time."

"Babe:" He cleared the roughness from his voice. "It was what it was. Always is. What we do. We got through it, to do it another day. Our job. It's one hell of a grind."

"I try to hide it, but sometimes it's too hard to. I get so scared that…that." Finishing that sentence was more like climbing the last acreage of Mt. Everest.

"I know. It's the same for me too." He shrugged, shutting the rest of the world out. She owned every bit of his attention. "Hey, we're only human. If we ever forget that, then doing what we do would be impossible."

It dug into her, clawed at her with merciless zeal, the uncertainty and danger of their profession was all-consuming. She had nearly lost him today. It wasn't the first time. Deep inside, she knew it would not be the last. The same could happen to her, already had any number of times.

None of Five-0's team players were immortal. Whoever had that impression was just plain daft.

Her piercing love for Danny curled around Kono's heart, swaddling it. Her feeling hopeless robbed her of breath, rendering her like this, utterly exposed. This volatile, ruggedly-handsome man was irreplaceable. She embraced that with eyes and arms wide open.

Danny kissed her neck tenderly and snuggled deeper into Kono.

Adam Noshimuri had been replaced, not all at once, but slowly and surely, over time as the days, weeks and months had worn on. She knew he would return one day, but in the meantime, she had her future to consider. Kono had written him, had explained that, in the long run, it would never work out between them. It was better that they go their separate ways and shelve what they'd had. Considerately, but clearly, she delineated that their relationship was over. She had spilled tears while in the process of casting him off, her exculpatory prose, heartfelt.

He needed to move on as she had.

She did not keep Danny a secret for Noshimuri to find out about later with his return. No; thoroughly, she had written concerning who this man was, who had given her a reason to move on, and what he meant to her.

Danny buried his face into Kono's shoulder, wanting to saturate his psyche in her essence. He went back in time, _back in the day_, to that rundown warehouse in Jersey where he had been beaten so badly, to a bloody pulp, before the drug traffickers of that violent ring killed him as Grace had been. Throughout that unthinkably psychotic ordeal of mistreatment he had endured, smart-mouthing every step of the way, he had immersed himself in the knowledge that he was to be a father. That ilk, and his backbone borne of hardheadedness, had kept him from going off the deep end.

He hadn't back-talked to impress his partner, Grace, as the predatory Billy had accused. He'd done it to vent his utter frustration for their having landed in such a revolting predicament in the first place. Yes, they should have had backup. They should have waited before going in just the two of them despite the time element having been in play.

It had been what it had been, risky from the get-go. He had wanted to keep the low-lifes off balance, to keep them off of his partner. But, in the end, Grace had been shot in the stomach like some dog.

Much of what he'd felt back then, had revisited him today.

With tears in her voice, apprehension strangling her voice, Kono choked out, "D-Danny… Y-you could have been k-killed." She grabbed him harder around his neck. She had gone to a very dark place inside herself, a place barren and cold, where sunlight rarely reached. It was the side of her she couldn't shake when things went bad. She used to live in that zoned out place every day after her surfing accident had proven how vincible she was, how everyone was, really, despite the constant, well-meaning pep talks Steve never tired of giving the unit.

"Danny…."

He kissed the peak of her nose. "It wouldn't have been the first time. Not by a long shot."

The story he had told Steve about nine-eleven wended its way through his mind for as many times as it had this day. He weighed the pros and cons of relating the lurid tale to Kono, now.

Danny's hand snaked to Kono's neck and he anchored his hand at the base of her throat, drumming his fingers along her clavicle. She fused with him. Pain was not entirely gone; it redoubled as it stabbed. The pain of loss, aligned with the monstrous physical pain beset him.

Kono felt it; she pressed into him with greater intent, trying to siphon what she could only imagine he felt. With a flick of her wrist, she gently began massaging his arm. "I prayed I would see you again. I never gave up. I can't lose you, Danny. It's not an option." She drew on that replenished well of strength he aroused in her.

"I wanna tell you a story," Danny opened.

"What kind?"

"Every bit of it true-to-life," he effortlessly slipped in, tapping the side of her nose with his finger.

He gave the blow-by-blow account of what he had chronicled for Steve, earlier about that fateful day. The avid use of his hands was an added attraction; it usually was.

"You're a survivor," Kono breathed with the sound of reverence in her voice.

"I wasn't the only one. We lost plenty of brave people that awful day, but not our sense of duty, honor…respect. Yeah, 'the idea of bringing a kid into the world and bringing a kid into all this bull—." He sighed as though the weight of the world burdened his shoulders. Those shoulders weren't in the habit of buckling, though. His eyes flicked to the ends of her wonderful hair as his insight took control of his tongue. "All manner of heroes emerged from everywhere that day all hell broke loose." Sounding as somber as a death knell, he lamented, "Grace…Grace…as long as I live I'll never forget her and the courage she always showed."

Kono's voice hardened when she expressed, "Those animals! Shooting her like that." Delicately, she took to stroking his Adam's apple.

Nodding, with a smile, Danny replied boyishly, "You're every bit her and then some."

Kono reveled in the high praise, but not longer than she felt entitled that she should. "You named your Grace after your partner." With glassy eyes all over again, and feeling so light headed, Kono murmured, "What a special man you are. Your kind doesn't happen along every day. Disloyalty, cowardice _aren't_ options for you."

He was crushing her between his burly arms. "Know what?"

"What?"

"I'm gonna tell ya what."

"You sound like nothing's going to stop you."

"Damn straight. There's something else that isn't an option. Our _not_ being together. That's what." He watched her, feeling as if she had the power of life and death over him. Lately, that was exactly how it felt. "Kono…" His voice deepened as the outpouring of his heart commenced. "I said it before. I'm saying it again now, like never before. I love you." He looked as serious as the day had been long. "I'm not losing you."

"No, you're not." She tried drawing back; he let her ease herself away. They needed to lock eyes with each other. While cupping her cheek more adhesively, Kono said, "I love you too, Danny. I can't think of being without you either. _Only_ you." She told him about Adam's letter and it was a relief combined with absolution.

Adam had saved her life. Danny was saving all the rest of her.

The revelation about her letter could not have come at a better time.

He caressed her tenderly. She pillowed her cheek against his hand.

"Kono…"

His voice sounded rough, shaky, almost not his own. He had thought about this too, all during his hellish ordeal, wherein if he had moved a muscle it all could have gone _splat_. Kono and he were together again, and what was in his heart and mind demanded that he speak outright. Holding back felt superfluous, silly even.

Still and all, there was nothing like these sort of nerves to mangle a man's resolve.

Kono's compliant demeanor spurred him on, while he wondered how she would react. He saw such acceptance in her discerning eyes, everything that he longed for imprisoned in her gaze. He weaved his fingers in her hair and prayed. Yes, prayed. People could have a change of heart, right?

"There's something I need to ask you."

"Like what?"

The only sound in the room was the stentorian beating of his heart, his grand lion heart. The crescendo built and with fever pitch intensity, Danny delivered with his breath held.

"It'll only work if you want it _too_."

"What will?"

He slid off the couch and onto one knee. Speechless, Kono gaped at him, her mind racing. He sheltered her hands within his.

"Babe…will you marry me?"

There, he had said it; the proposal had tumbled from his mouth before he'd had time to squelch it, avoiding it like plague. He was crazy, or at least today's event had whacked him into suffering temporary insanity. Wasn't he the one always knocking marriage, having gone sour on the whole idea of matrimony? What made him think that this wonderful, beautiful woman wanted a whiny, he could admit that to himself, loose cannon like him? Staring into her eyes, as hard as he was though, he knew his impetuous proposition wasn't harebrained, not _that_ out-and-out nutty. He loved Kono deeply, deeper than he had loved Rachel.

Kalakaua and he had a rich, unspoken understanding. They fit like hand and glove. Marriage made it more lasting, and wonders of wonders, he wasn't breaking out in a cold sweat. If they did not have what they had, he would have never opened his mouth in the first place. He was sure of her, as sure as...

Kono was sure of him. In one fluid motion, her body glided to the floor to join him. She wrapped her arms around the tight, compact package that was his body and blurted against his mouth—"_Yes_!"

The immediacy of their lives, the precariousness of how they lived them, had set the stage for this surprising event.


	13. The Apocalyptic Announcement

Yeah, it was mind-blowing, over-the-top, hitting a poor unsuspecting girl right between the eyes brand of crazy. It was sweet, heart-stirring and she probably would never stop thinking about his whole 'deal' for as long as she lived. It was also true, real and what made her heart beat as fast as when she would orgasm that Danny Williams, the hard-boiled, soft-hearted transplant from New Jersey wanted her to be his wife.

And she was going to be! Without a sliver of hesitation she had agreed, no looking back. Sudden was good; she liked sudden. His proposal had all the smack-worthy wallop of an insane wipeout wave. Kono clung to Danny with her arms wreathed around his neck. She couldn't stop kissing him wherever her doting lips landed. "Where are you going? You don't have to go anywhere, you know. We're engaged. It's okay if we…you know. Jump straight to the honeymoon. It'll be…" With mischief dripping from her eyes, she chuckled while making a grab for his midsection. Her hand began dipping lower. "C-G-F bidniss. Straight up!" She couldn't stop herself from winking at him saucily. "Want you now!"

On the verge of erupting like Vesuvius, with sweat on his brow, Danny winked back, apprehending her hand before it hit its mark. Her eruption was well underway. His words came out all breathy, his voice strained. "You're not making it easy. All so incredibly hard."

She answered him with a silken, feral growl. "That's my idea, _brah_."

Danny, jammed up against the door jamb had no idea Kono was this volatile when it came to this. What a bountiful surprise. Still and all, with her hands flush with his chest, her medium length nails digging into the fabric of his shirt, he tried putting her off.

"Babe, Ko—whoa—wait!"

She was, for all intents and purposes, mauling him with ardent abandon. She showed no signs of stopping.

"For what?" Kono laughed, sounding evil. Her active arms were doing their darndest to grapple with Danny's desire to dissuade her from jumping his bones, practically on the spot. She prevented him from pulling away as she became more insistent. With a sigh, she challenged "What's the problem?"

"Uh…nothing, nothing…m-much."

"What's the matter?"

"Uh, hmmm, well uh…see…"

"Don't you want me?" Kono shot him a scalding scowl. "It was you who just asked me to marry you, or was that your body double?"

"Nah, nah—yeah. Hell yeah. Course it was me," Danny said, trying to sound disarming along with charming.

His intended looked pissed. "Then what's with you?" She began her second campaign to strip him as fast as she humanly could.

While Danny wrestled with her, playfully, trapping her hands, he tried taking her edge off, not her clothes, as she was consummately intent on divesting him of his. "Can we talk about this?"

"Talk? You want to _talk_? I want to 'infiltrate' you till you're senseless."

"Cute. What a classy way of sayin' you wanna boff me till I'm mindless and I can't see straight." His chuckle was deep and effortless. "Peachy."

"You sound like there's something wrong with that." Looking aggressive, Kono nodded, pinching at his manly buds beneath his fancy dress shirt. He wore the tux he had worn to Grace's dance to perfection. He looked _so_ hot. Since the proposal had been made, and Danny was acting as if this was the first time he had ever 'cha-chaed,' his modesty, if that was what it truly was, was driving her to distraction. "Is there? You don't sound like you're into it, Danny. What's up with that?"

She no longer had him pinned against her front door.

"No, no—now come on. Don't—don't do that," he implored, rushing to gather her into his arms, the ones she had forsaken as the onslaught of tears her eyes were filled with began spilling.

Confusion and upset had caused her to shed those tears. "Why, Danny? Why aren't we in there…" She canted her head at her bedroom." Owing to her take-charge mien, she wasn't hesitate about tugging on his hand.

Instead of answering her right away, or allowing Kono to lead him off to her charming lair, persuasively, he coaxed her into walking with him to the couch. She wasn't for it at first, but when he whispered that he _really_ needed to talk about this with her, she relented.

He made her wonder. What was going on in that laser-brained mind of his? Why was he acting like a man who was unsure of himself in the bedroom when he threw off the impression that he was anything but?

Settling herself, Kono invited, "Okay, talk." She blotted the streaks of moisture on her cheeks with the heels of her hands.

Finding the circumstance a mite ticklish, Danny grinned while sticking his finger at the back of his collar and running his finger along its inside. "You know I love you." His facial expression was an amalgam of elation and guardedness. "Right?" He couldn't help but think that maybe he was being a little selfish. He wasn't thinking in terms of imposing his will on her. He just thought that maybe she would be on the same page after he spoke what was on his mind. It was important to him. Would he be capable of making it be that way to her too?

When he cleared his throat and once she had nodded, she studied his face, gleaning what she could from it. "Danny…" Kono's brow wrinkled. "Are you having second thoughts?"

Jolted, by her probable assumption that his quietness meant he was sorry he had popped the question, Danny burst out, "No—no! Hell no!"

"Then, _what_?"

"Would you be totally, royally pissed if we waited to 'get busy' until after we're legally married?" Danny looked as though he had just run the mile in under three minutes, which some days he would have sworn he had while chasing some perp making like a jackrabbit. The fastest the mile had been run to date, was 3:43.13 by Mr. Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco.

"Is _that_ all? You want to wait?" Kono exclaimed, meeting his qualmish demeanor head on with her warm smile. She cupped his hands with her own and Danny brought her hands to his lips to kiss them. "Make the honeymoon the first time?"

That particular word was a loaded one for Danny. Rachel's and his hadn't been the culminating experience of a lifetime. She had tried not to complain, but it seemed as though everything he did on theirs had annoyed her. It had gotten to the point that her constant nitpicking had driven him to spend more time off on his own than with her.

"Too uncool for ya?" he said, sounding as if he made light of what he really wanted. "A tight, together, intelligent and beautiful lady, who solidly kicks ass, like yourself." Danny rolled his eyes meaningfully; he aimed to tease. He hoped that, somehow, he might win her over to his side with his boyish charisma. He wasn't being a prude, not by anyone's stretch of the imagination. Barely out of his teens, he had lost his virginity. Kono's had never been up for discussion although she had made no secret of her having been intimate with Adam and, before him, her surfing mentor, the 'bitter pill,' who had let her down on so many levels. Kono wasn't fast and loose, but she'd had her share of lovers' trysts as she imagined Danny had had his own.

Kono just looked at him, enthralled, feeling a wealth of tender, soul-rendering, inexplicable things for this paradoxical man, who wanted her all to himself. He, the entire situation she found herself in, was beyond swoon-worthy.

"So, you don't want to sleep with me tonight."

Danny chortled. "You're forgetting that we already did that."

Kono shook her head, looking firm. "Uh, no, I didn't. It was the best sleep I'd had in a long while. You're better than a comforter. The blanket, I mean."

"I knew that." He fell silent for a moment, remembering how special it had felt lying next to her in the tropical darkness, listening to her breathe in and out, hearing the soft sounds she made when she had finally drifted off. "I want to sleep with you _every_ night. Just not tonight for the extracurricular activity. I'd like our first time to be when we're…we're…uh—"

"Husband and wife." Kono melded into the intensity that beamed from his eyes.

"Wife and proud, happy husband." Danny gazed deeply into her eyes, looking all descriptions of devoted, coupled with solicitous. "Call me archaic if ya need to, but is what I'm asking work for you?"

She was a sucker for the puppy dog eloquence of his eyes.

"Here's a clue, _brah_—" And with that, Kono charged him on the couch, with all the impetus of Kobe Bryant driving to the hoop, until she had her betrothed right where she wanted him.

Having her pin him against her couch felt a lot better than being nailed to the side of her door, Danny thought, as Kono plied him with her feminine magnetism. If she was this good on a couch, he nearly passed out thinking what she was going to be like in bed, riding him like the wind.

Danny's smiling so hard hurt his face. Kono had a surefire way of chasing the hurt away. She cuddled with him until he forgot what hurt was.

* * *

About two weeks later, following the case involving the murdered 17-year old hacker, Zack Slater, having been closed, Chin and Steve were engrossed in an animated conversation over the Surface table. Both thought they had made good points about running point in the most efficient fashion. Kono, overhearing them go at it just had her smiling to herself as she coasted by on her way to her office. Noticing that Danny hadn't come in yet took some of the starch out of her good mood. She was still pretty banged up, but the shellacking she gave that scummy South African mercenary leader had her nursing her wounds with pride. His moves had been deft, but she had been more than the match for the amoral likes of him.

Steve had had his hands full with Danny, who had wanted to shoot the goon for having taken his wife-to-be hostage and then had had the gall to abuse her right before his eyes in the Slaters' house. The bruises Kono had received at that man's hands had been like waving a red cape in front of a bull, whose heart was set on goring every and all comers that got in its way. Danny had only seen red.

To date, neither Chin nor Steve knew about the couple's plans, which they had mutually decided to keep under wraps, although Kono favored it more. She wanted the big announcement to come at the dinner party she planned on having sometime in the near future. She and Danny figured on marrying in a month's time and the days for the nuptials were dwindling. A fine organizer she was; not one invitation for the dinner, let alone the wedding, had been sent out.

Kono looked up from her desk, absorbed as she had gotten in overdue paperwork, to realize that Danny was standing smack in front of her paper-laden desk. He was quieter than a mouse when he wanted to be.

"Hi, honey, I'm home."

"Yeah, me too," Kono agreed, wondering what his Cheshire cat facial expression was about. When he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, it definitely meant he had one huge cat to let out of its bag. "Uh…did you want something?"

While he nodded, he said, "Yup. Several minutes of your time."

"Oh? What for?"

"I wanted to wait, but I can't. You need this now." He went to the door of her glass enclosed office to close it and when he faced back around to Kono, she spied the elegant velvety black box he held in his right hand. "Wanna guess what I got?"

Kono surrendered her chair in a flash to stand at Danny's side. "Is that, that? My—" She gasped as though all the air had been sucked out of her ergonomically correct office. "Rin—"

Danny actually giggled, all full of spice. Already out of the box and with Danny's slipping its slim band sporting its sizeable rock onto her third finger left hand, the gorgeous symbol of his love fit perfectly.

"Like it?" he cooed.

"D-a-Danny! This is too—how much did this set you back?" Kono fairly squealed, and everyone knew she wasn't a squealing kind of girl. But this was her engagement ring and it was a humdinger. One sizeable heart-shaped diamond set off by four smaller ones in an eye-catching setting. Kono was gasping all over the place. During one of those gasps, Danny gathered her into his arms, locking her up in them.

"I wish the rock was bigger."

"It's the biggest one I've ever seen," Kono assured, laughing and weeping at the same time.

Within his arms, it was the best type of lockdown she could possibly want and she could not stop telling him how he should not have spent so much after he told her what the ring cost. They hugged and kissed until the two men who had been lost in their own business came to stick their noses into that of the engaged ones.

"Hey! Yo! What goes on here?" Steve demanded.

Chin Ho looked flabbergasted, utterly fit to be tied. What in all of this tropical paradise did Danny think he was doing with Kono? It was plain that the diminutive blond man was making out with his cousin like crazy. On municipal property no less.

"Yeah! What goes on here?" he slammed, blistering. From day one when he had caught Danny ogling Kono in her barely there bikini, he knew the wisecracking rascal was trouble. He had nothing against the man personally. Danny was the man you wanted having your back. _Kono and Danny...Danny and Kono_, he thought over and over in sheer amazement. He equated their linkage with being like day and night. "Williams, you've got one second to stop groping my cuz. Then I come out swinging." As Chin thought about it some more, it began making weird sense. The way Kono's eyes would light up when the subject of Danny came up. "No prisoners taken, _brah_!" That last word Chin had bitten off and spewed out as though it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"No, Chin, it's okay." Kono was grinning from ear to ear as she dangled her ring finger at the rest of the team. "We're engaged!"

"What-the-hell!" Steve and Chin chorused, looking as though Governor Denning had just ordered Five-0's disbandment.

"We kid you not," Danny piped up. "It's official. We're getting hitched!"

With that triumphant announcement tolling in their ears, Chin and Steve looked doubly dismayed as they stood like statues watching the happy couple revel in their rekindled ardent display of public affection.

TBC...


	14. The Spoiler Effect

Easily, Chin Ho could remember numerous times when he was more like a big brother to Kono instead of just a cousin. It was just the way it was. He had always looked out for her, watched over her. The Kellys were tight with the Kalakauas for as long as these islands had once been ruled by high-ranking chiefs. The news of Kono's engagement and subsequent marriage to a fellow teammate threw the recently-bereaved detective for a loopy loop. How could she keep such a life-altering secret from him?

She hadn't said one word to him about it and since she hadn't, Chin felt adrift, left high and dry…and out of sorts. Fit to be tied did justice to his feelings. Kono was good at doing that to him, even when it wasn't done intentionally. She just seemed to have the knack.

Danny was a great detective, an honest man, and despite his big mouth, a 'trip' to hang out with. But good enough for his vivacious 'little sis?' Not that Chin was naturally inclined to put the blond down, but Kono deserved a man who was, well, a different sort. She deserved a man who wasn't as irreverently vocal or peevish as the East Coast transplant was, disposed to blowing consequential things off at the drop of a hat. Often making big things out of absolutely nothing was his forte.

And was it too much to ask? Couldn't Kono's man be taller than she was? All right, that was rather small of him, Chin reflected, but it seemed to him that having a man his cousin could look up to, literally, wasn't too much to ask.

Chin was bombarded with doubts, coupled with recrimination for his nitpicking and putting Danny down. Poring over the surface table, the task force's fifth operative, Kelly was doing his best to connect the dots. With neat precision, the pieces of this complex puzzle were dropping into place. Chin's right hand swept upward, then zigged farther to the right. There was a match, which made him smile. Steve and Danny were waiting on him for the positive ID before they vaulted into action.

Dallas Mamfris, the man they liked for solving this case that had HPD going around in circles, was about to be locked down.

"What have you got, Chin?" Steve's voice sang out over the speaker.

Additional seconds passed; Kelly knew what he had as pertinent data flashed before his alert eyes. "We've got a match on those prints, Steve. Mamfris ordered the hit and _was_ at the Ala Moana Farmers' Market when the slaughter went down. We got him dead to rights on this. Check and mate." Chin grinned, remembering the last time he had played chess with Kono…and she had won. He had not exactly let her win. She was better at the game than he was now, student outdid teacher.

"Good. We're moving in with SWAT. Nice work, you two."

"Kono followed it up till it bled."

"As usual," Steve was quick to acknowledge. "Kono, there'd be no Five-0 without you."

"Aw—come on, Boss, we're nothing without all of us."

"That's my girl," Danny chimed in, the pride lacing his voice ample. "I'm smiling right now. It's your fault, Babe."

Chin eyed his cousin up and down, for having glowingly accorded team effort its due. And then, there was the bone that begged to be picked concerning the mutual admiration society Kono and Danny had instituted without his blessing. Chin had something to say about their plans, but the sticky-tricky part was how to broach the sensitive subject.

"Danny and I'll see you later at headquarters once this colossal mop-up is a done deal. This op ends today. The Governor is through treading lightly with this offshoot mob. It's going 'down-down-down-down.'"

"Got that. We'll be here, and, Steve, no wild stunts. For me?"

"Hey-yo—I've been cutting down. But, I make no promises on this one, Chin. The bloodshed ends with this."

"Just make sure the blood shed isn't yours, Big Kahuna."

Lately, and for good reason, Chin had become quite glib about stressing the need for practicing safe 'blitzkrieg' to their gung-ho Commander. Erring on the side of caution could hardly be thought of as foolhardy, unlike the uncaged stunts pulled too frequently when he had first come aboard to head up Five-0.

"Let SWAT take the lead, for once," Chin guided.

"Yeah, Boss, be careful." Kono raised her voice. "Armor on, guys."

That was new code, especially understood by two certain engaged people. She wasn't with her husband-to-be physically, but mentally and spiritually, she was at his side.

"Locked and loaded…" Danny resisted giving into saying 'hon.' He'd save such endearments for Kono later after they fought the bad guys and took them out.

Chin locked eyes with Kono when she replied, "Be safe, _holoho_."

"That's cute. She calling you _that_." Steve growled in imitation of the fearless animal Kono undoubtedly imagined Danny was. Already getting out of the Camaro while winking at the person whom Kono's precautionary tidings had been primarily aimed at, the Commander smirked. "Let's go, lover boy."

"That's seriously committed lover boy to you, untrained SEAL." Danny checked his vest by the side of his car, still hearing the voice of his equally single-minded surfer girl in his head.

"Kono's got her work cut out for her, boy. I should know. When I was delusional, I actually thought you'd be able to live in my house till you found your own place."

"You're too picky," Danny groused.

"And you're _not_? When _whatever_ it is, is inconvenient for you? Letting it all hang out is your problem. Even when it's entirely uncalled for. Your idea of respecting someone else's space is making it as messy as possible. All over the place. Despite any and all useful clarifications."

"Neat freak!"

"_Nui opala wala'au_."

Chin sniggered, Kono swatted his arm closest to her and, scowling, she muttered, "He is not! Well…only when he's mad."

The link of communication between the car and headquarters was still alive and well, and providing some jocose off the cuff entertainment. Following some sustained silence, a smattering of faint, bandied banter grew fainter with the moving off of their teammates. By the look on her face, Chin knew that Kono was straining to hear more, like the sound of heated engagement arising from the inevitable battle when law enforcement clashed with organized evil.

Chin was in the throes of exchanging a pointed facial expression with Kono. Oblivious to her relative's posturing, she kept on listening, her facial expression unaffected by Chin's moue of annoyance. Kono had better be attuned for what she was in for, he figured. As if she didn't know enough already about her guy's irritating habits that could drive anyone nuts. This enlightening 'cargument' had hit their ears at full tilt. Steve had not said much about Danny's stay, but what was heard just now was loud and clear. Danny had failed being the ideal houseguest, that was plain. Kono liked having her way, which was another thing she would be wise to consider. If she was bound and determined to marry a _pokole_, _nuha_, _mokaki_, one short, complaining, messy man like Danny, then she had better memorize the word compromise and buy herself some sturdy earplugs, some blindfolds too, while she was at it.

Chin went there, not liking what he saw in his mind's eye one bit.

Ignoring the person one married was no way to be in a marriage, he jogged, searching himself first, then Kono's motives. Cherished memories relived, permeated by Malia's warmth, was Chin's undoing.

_Why Danny…Why…What does she really see in him…Honestly…Someone she's not seeing clearly enough…Love is blind…Don't forget deaf and dumb…Gotta have that talk with her…gotta have that talk…She's not seeing or thinking straight…He put that ring on her finger and a noose around her neck…When…when do I get the chance to reach her_, throbbed in Chin's mind.

So they got married and it was a disaster, worse than Danny's first marriage, Chin couldn't help but think. It would leave his cousin bitter, disillusioned and, who knew, in the same situation as Danny's first ex, with a child that Danny would obsessively need to be near. Did Kono deserve the emotional upheaval a failed marriage would bring? Danny, spoiling her chance for lasting happiness just because he wanted what he wasn't entitled to in the first place, Kono.

_That's right_, Chin agreed conclusively. It wasn't right. Danny was too old, too pig-headed in just about every way, and too downright smug about marrying his cousin—the Kalakaua's and Kelly's pride and joy.

Chin tightened his jaw and waited, biding his time. He rubbed the back of his neck, dress rehearsing in his mind the right words to make Kono reconsider. _Cruel to be kind_, he thought. _Speak now, or forever hold my speech…and I have no intention of saying, "I told you so, Kono," later when that time comes_.

He had to give Danny props on one score though: He had made Kono leave Adam Noshimuri behind. But what the _kahele_ was wrong with Charlie Fong? The Forensics specialist was a good match for Kono. Charlie was interested; it wasn't hard for the folks who knew them to see, except for Kono. She and Charlie were friends, nothing more.

Chin let the Surface 'sleep,' and turned to Kono. "Hey, Cuz…mind if we have a talk?" He stood on the threshold of the way out, giving her tentative looks which oozed invitation. "My treat…a Vitamin Water from the machine."

The sound of his voice snapped Kono out of her self-imposed construction of castles in the air she was waltzing with Danny through. "Huh…"

"We've earned ourselves a break and I'm treating. Then I'd like to talk to you."

"Talk with me." Her brow furrowed and she tossed Chin an oblique look, recognizing that tone. She heard it often enough when there was something high up in importance on his mind. "Uh, yeah. Sure…uh, what about?" She slid past him while he held the door.

Out in the hall, as they fell in step with each other he said, "Let's get something cool first down our throats and then I'll spill."

"Okay, Chin, whatever you say. But, couldn't you give me the littlest hint first so I'll have something to go on."

"All in good time, Cuz. All in good time..."

"Ooh, so mysterious,_ Che._" Kono shot him a suitable look to go with the tone he was giving her. "What have I done now? Forget to backup the Surface's memory?" Mirth radiated from her, accentuating the beauty of her eyes.

_If only it were that simple, Cuz_... Chin faked a real smile. "I'll tell you. Trust me."

"Don't I always?"

Chin sighed heavily.

_Up till now, yeah, Cuz, you always have...Hope it stays that way once I've said what I have to..._


	15. Neutralization Is A Wondrous Thing

Kono's eyes were swollen and a sickish hue of red when she answered her front door with a damp tissue clutched in her hand. She had responded to the door automatically. Doing things out of force of habit was not the best idea all the time. Many times, it was what got a fair number of poor souls into hotter water. That, or deciding to marry a wonderful, beautiful man your cousin, who was more like a brother, wasn't happy that you had accepted his hand in marriage.

Standing before Chin, sniffling, Kono vacillated before letting him into her home. Her ears were still ringing from his snobbish speech in which he had made Danny out to be no better than the riffraff downtown. Making no excuse for her flight from the building, she had fled headquarters immediately after Chin had told her flat out that she deserved a better man than Danny. He thought she should have known that, and he hadn't minced any words to that effect.

Chin had ripped the rug right out from under Kono without so much as a, "Ta-dah!"

How was it done, deciding that someone wasn't good enough for somebody? It smacked of bias and narrow-mindedness, if anyone asked her. Chin sure hadn't. Somehow, it was natural for him to assume that she and Danny were already sleeping together and he was coming forward to do the honorable thing, with the cart being before the horse, so to speak, because the 'runt' had knocked her up. Kono, pregnant with Danny's baby. Chin began bristling all over again. Downloaded bits and pieces of memory influenced him. There was a basis for their quick little displays of affection between them when they thought no one was paying attention. When Steve had mentioned something about it once, Chin had brushed his observation off.

It was hard for Chin to keep silent, feeling as thrown as he felt.

"You shot out of headquarters like a bat out of hell."

Kono wanted to clock Chin for having said every bit of that crap he had spewed about Danny's unsuitability.

And now he had the nerve to show up on her doorstep to spout more! She made no secret that she was sorry she had let him in. She had a good mind to toss him out on his keister. If given a moment more of feeling such pique, and ill will, she might have…

"All right, what do you want?" Kono snapped. Her arms barricaded her chest.

"We need to talk some more, Cuz—"

"Really! More? You've said way too much already!"

"Calm down, just calm down," Chin essayed, attempting to soothe her. She looked madder than a wet hen who was about to go for the eyes. His intention was to place both of his hands atop the rotator cuffs of her shoulders, but he held off. No lie, Kono looked as if she wanted to bite his head off and spit it out after she got through mangling it.

"Chin," she replied in a deceptively staid, even tone, then, she took a deep breath, let it out slowly and began again. "Danny and I love each other. That's how it is. No—we have not been hooking up the way it's thought of nowadays. We saw a lot of each other, even before I started having feelings for Adam—"

"Cuz, I—"

"With everything that went down during Steve's absence, we grew so much closer. You lost Mal. Adam saved me, but I started having some serious second thoughts about him. I mean, I am in law enforcement and he is Yakuza at the end of the day, after all." Kono sighed reinforcing her strong will with fire in her eyes. "When Danny asked me to marry him, I was the one who wanted to get him into bed so fast. But he refused. Said he wanted our first time to be when we're married. He's so not what he could care less what others think about him."

Chin looked dumbstruck, as if she had told him she had her heart set on replacing surfing with crocheting from here on in.

"We've never touched each other once like that since we began getting serious." Kono rolled her eyes, but she did it nicely. "Okay, okay. We've kissed a lot. A whole lot." Kono journeyed to that place she went when Danny's lips set her on fire, and rocked her world. "Che, Danny's the best. Never dreamed I'd get such a great guy." She allowed Chin to settle his arms on her shoulders, the way he had wanted to moments ago. Graciously, she continued. "He shows me in every way that I mean more to him than just a freaky good time. A warm body that's his personal 'wonderland,' an easy lay. He's committed to making me happy, respects me like I've never been respected before. I as sure as hell feel the same way. I'd die for him, Che. He's told me so many times that he'd do it for me in a heartbeat." Kono's eyes teared up. "And I've told him let's live for each other first. Forget death. It can't touch us. Not when we love each other the way we do."

Chin's throat tightened and burned several moments. That was the kind of love Malia and he had shared. The over-defensive, combative relative, who had done his best to nail Danny to the wall at headquarters by pointing out what was wrong with his being Kono's husband had been shown the light thanks to her firm, yet noble way she had set Chin straight.

Sounding sheepish, he said, "Okay, okay. I believe you. So he didn't get you pregnant."

"Hell no! He doesn't _have to_ marry me. For the last time. He _wants to_." Kono drew back from Chin. "You see this?"

He nodded, getting a gander. The whistle he gave hung in the air between them as he took a much better look at the lavish rock Danny had taken a sizeable loan out so he could afford giving her that ring. "An' how. It's a doozy."

"You better believe it is, Mister." She was careful to keep herself from sounding crass and mercenary. She swelled with pride when she revealed, "This set him back fifteen thousand big ones, Cuz. I'm afraid to take this ring off. I shudder to think what would happen if I ever lost this." She held her finger up close to her eyes, struck by the jewel taking up so much space on her finger.

Chin could have been knocked over by a feather. _$15,000_? He shelled out that kind of money? Of course, Kono was worth every penny, and then some, but—_this_—from a man who pinched coins harder than Kamekona! "Hey, uh, Cuz, how cool will you be with a cop who might be involved with, uh, graft? He has trouble scraping up lunch money."

Kono smacked Chin on the arm, not hard though. "He now has a lien on the Camaro." Chin's eyes went all agog. Kono couldn't stop nodding. "Stop dissing him, Cuz—I mean it! He loves me so much it hurts. He's willing to bleed financially to put this on my finger." She had to laugh and its sound was music to Chin's ears. Danny wasn't the only one hurting. Chin had loved her way before Det. Danny Williams, Hawaii's newest arrival, had set foot on these islands.

He grabbed Kono and crushed her within his arms. "Then I'm happy for you, Cuz. You deserve it, and if you're sure Danny's the man to give you everything you deserve, then far be it from me to keep you from him and the happiness he promises." A note of seriousness crept into Chin's voice then. "But if he ever causes you any unhappiness whatsoever. I'll smoke his ass and hang it up on the wall of my house." Chuckling, a little after that delivery, he added, "Feel free to give him the memo."

"You can give it to him yourself when he gets here. He texted me before you showed up. He's coming over."

"Oh…."


	16. Race Against Time

When Danny arrived at Kono's house, he found Chin sitting out back in the yard. He looked mighty comfy in one of Kono's pastel blue Adirondack chairs with the salmon pink cushions, sipping some mango-guava tea and looking relaxed. Danny hadn't seen him that way in a while since Malia's inane death. Sometimes, while fitfully tossing and turning in a bed too empty, Chin would awaken in the dead of night. In those confused seconds as he tottered between being still half asleep and fully conscious, Malia wasn't dead. She was where she belonged, in bed with him so he could make love to her—which was as addictive as letting semi-melted ice cream slide down his throat.

Then he would choke back a sob when reality crashed against his mind and the words stung yet again: "She is dead."

A chill swept up Chin's spin, discomforting him. He was moving on, but sometimes living in the past was sheerly effortless. Involuntarily, he recoiled when he'd started in his seat, which hadn't gone unnoticed.

"You okay?" Danny asked, as Kono was taking him by the hand so he could clasp it. Upon contact, he towed her in so kissing the side of her head followed.

Seeing their gentle display of affection, Chin was quick to say, "Not as good as you're doing." In time, he coaxed an understanding smile to his lips. He set his cup of tea aside and stood. Standing with the amorous couple, he thrust out his arm, desirous of having Danny seize his hand for a shake. "I left the office so fast I never got a chance to say this." He sounded sheepish, erring on the side of rueful. "Congratulations." Chin pumped Danny's hand as if it were a handle joined to an old-fashioned water pump. He never took his eyes off Kono's face.

Kono beamed over the change of heart she had effected in him. It gladdened her to think that what she had told him had much to do with her cousin's attitudinal improvement. "Like some tea?" she mentioned to Danny.

"I'd love some, babe."

Chin took careful note of the way Danny brought Kono's tawny hand up to his lips to kiss the rounded prominence of its knuckles. He fought, making the effort and was successful. Danny's juicy display of affection didn't rile him. Chin focused on the symbol of Williams' love, hugging Kono's ring finger. _He's serious about her…he's not toying with her affections…he wants to make a life with her_, went through Chin's mind, watching the two of them hug. _Kono has never looked happier_…

"I'll be right back—" Kono's eyes sailed to the front of her house, having started at the ringing.

"Want me to see who that is, Cuz?" Chin offered, all set to respond to the doorbell.

"No. I'll get it. Sit. Both of you." Muttering to herself then, she said, "Wonder who it is?" Leaving her guests behind, Kono heard them begin to chat good-naturedly with each other. She breathed a sigh of relief. It was so good to hear, their airy banter, so close on the heels of the volatile ironing-out she'd had to perform with Chin so he would lose the itch to go after her man tooth and nail.

Hand on the doorknob, Kono turned it, opening up the door wide.

"Ooooh!" she exclaimed, stunned, totally unprepared for the unanticipated sight of _this_ visitor. Like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights, Kono looked soundly spooked. Bowled over, with eyebrows reaching for her hairline, Kono cried out, "Adam!"

Coolly, with a crisp edge to his voice, he blandished, "Me too. Honey, I've missed you so much. I knew that if you saw me again, all the old feelings would come roaring back. My feelings haven't changed." He went to take her into his arms, but Kono jerked back with a shocked look on her face.

"What are you doing here?" She gulped some air. "I thought I made it clear in my letter that I never wanted to see you again."

"Ko-no," he drawled with a mischievous laugh, winking at her, using his dark good looks to unfair advantage. Taking her dismayed reaction in stride and treating it as inconsequential, he buttered her up. "Sweetheart, that's what I love about you." His convivial laughter clogged in her ears. "Even when you think you're serious, you're such a delight." His tone went a tad more comedial. "I read between the lines and knew you didn't mean it."

Kono's eyes bugged. His audacious flippancy raised her hackles. "I meant _every_ word, Adam. If you need to hear them again, in person, then here it is: We are done. _Done_—understand?"

"I only understand that you need me to make up for lost time my absence caused. You're the only woman for me." He moved on her, but Kono was quicker and had begun shutting the door. Adam stuck his foot in it; he had a resilient one. Despite Kono's verve for closing him out, Adam's foot prevented it. "Just tell me what I've got to do to make my being away up to you. I'll do _anything_!"

"Go away!" Kono said in a loud, abrasive voice. "I've moved on."

"Kono, honey, please…"

"No!"

"Don't be like this. Just hear me out. I said I'll do anything. Even give up the Yakuza. I know that's what you want since legitimizing its business isn't going the way I want it to. I've been thinking long and hard about doing that. I know it's what you want. Let's talk about it—can't we talk?"

"There's nothing to talk about. Now, go! Leave me alone!"

"But I can't. You mean everything to me, Kono. You're my life," Adam justified. "I saved yours! I never stopped loving you. Never will!"

He had done it, Kono crabbed. He had pulled the 'saving your life,' card. She supposed it was only fair, but she didn't like it.

He spoke the hunch he had out loud. "There's someone else..."

"Yes. There is."

The look on Adam's face was one of woe. "_Who_? You couldn't have fallen in love so fast." He swore and assailed, "He can't be good enough!"

She couldn't believe this obnoxious scene was happening in her own home, with her fiancé and her cousin in hearing distance. How could they not hear this commotion? Where were they? If there ever was a time for back-up, this was it. Highly agitated, Kono bit off, "It's no use, I said. Stop begging for something I can't give you. Not anymore. Give the Yakuza up 'cause it's the right thing to do. Not for me!" With her weight against the door, trying to close it, she shoved, oblivious to Adam's entreaties to let him in, and his foot still acting as a doorstop. "Go away!"

"Not until we talk!" Adam wrenched the door open and wedged himself through the wider space he had created.

Before Kono realized what was happening, the door was thrown back, out of her hands. The man who had wrested control away from her was glaring as he held the door wide open. He shoved Noshimuri back, ousting him. "You heard what my fiancée just said. Clear off!"

"Fiancee?" Noshimuri said, chagrined while blanching. "Kono, you can't be serious. You're marrying this cop? How is this possible after all we've meant to each other? You don't love him. You love _me_!"

Kono looked thoroughly dazed and was afraid that Danny would do something off the charts crazy since prolonged association with Steve was influencing him a bit more each day as they battled crime.

"Wrong! She knows exactly who she loves!" Danny looked smug. Gruffly, he seized Kono to plaster her at his side, his arm holding her rigidly in place. "Don't expect an invitation to our wedding—that's out!" Quite a few of Five-0's guilty parties, whom the team had successfully apprehended, would have been frightened down to the soles of their feet if they had glimpsed Danny's eyes right now. He was the picture of lividity. Malice emanated from him. "Don't make me repeat myself, or you'll be the worse for it. _Leave_!"

Noshimuri glowered right back at the pugilistic detective.

Angsty while leaning against Danny, Kono stayed quiet, but fed off her fiance's aggression.

Flanking Kono on her right now, Chin mumbled, unintelligibly. It wasn't a hunch, his thinking about all of them being armed. Kono's house had no business morphing into a crime scene. Then, clearing his throat, he commandingly spoke up and for a moment thought about Steve being proud of him. Someone definitely must be in charge. "We're all capable of being rational here. So let's be it." His voice was strong and steady. "Adam, you were bound to find out sooner or later—"

"_Now_ is better than sooner or later," Danny interrupted scornfully, with his jaw looking as if it were set in granite.

Kono's arms held his waist more firmly and he stiffened. The dampness from his perspiration moistened his shirt. Gently, her fingers kneaded the supple flesh beneath his dress shirt until she felt him relax the clench of his taut transverse abdominis muscle. Danny's arm was welded to her shoulders.

Chin forded on with an easygoing lilt he adopted. "Adam, this is what Kono wants. We're grateful for what you did, and we'll never be able to repay…"

Expressively, Kono was fawning all over Chin with her eyes as she gazed askance. She was grateful to Adam for his having saved her life, but he couldn't expect her to get back with him for the sake of gratitude. Thankfully, Chin was putting into words what she had found impossible to express without it sounding insincere…since she no longer felt as she once did for him.

"I'm sorry," she faintly croaked.

"I still need to talk with you, Kono. Just you and I. We don't need this audience. We talk. Then, I'll go."

Adam's ultimatum wasn't scoring any points with Danny. Heating up all over again, he spat, "When I'm done counting to three and you're still here—"

"All right, Adam, all right. I'll talk with you, like you want. We talk; then you go."

Chin thought it was fair; Danny, not as much, but he backed down, allowing cooler heads, belonging to Kono and Chin, to prevail. He told himself that the man would say what he had to say, and would be out of Kono's and his life forever. The more Danny told himself that, the more of a mantra it became. "You've got your space." He kept himself from saying, 'It'll be the last time you get this chance.'

Chin and Danny headed for the back of the house, but remained inside, within earshot just in case what they heard didn't square.

Kono and Adam lingered by the open front door, eyeing each other quietly. For a man who had given the impression that he had loads to say, he seemed acutely tongue-tied at this stage.

Frowning, Kono opened with: "Talk. Here's your chance. I'm listening." Having read Danny's oh so obvious cues, she wasn't speculating about this being Adam's last chance to be with her alone. "I'm all ears."

Adam reached for her hand and Kono let him take it. He reached for her other hand; she hesitated before she allowed him to hold it too. How infuriating to have his nose rubbed in what Kono and the cop's relationship was denying him. "Sweetheart, believe me when I say, I love you. And…and I wish I didn't have to…" Letting his voice trail, a look of desperation simmered in his eyes. "I never meant for it to be this way…" He squeezed her hands hard.

"Never meant for it to be _what_ way?" Kono retorted, short of snapping. He needed to downplay the humility, which sounded pretentious. She began twisting the hand wearing the ring out of his hand.

Adam's skin flinched, having come in contact with Kono's band with the mounted diamond. Grunting, his hand shrank back from it and his arm, in one deft move, came up under Kono's throat, cutting off her wind. Dazed momentarily, then violently, she began struggling…until Adam moored the barrel of his Ruger P345 to her head.

"Don't cry out. Don't make a sound, _kawaii_."

Kono bucked in his grasp, balking hearing him call her 'darling.' Instinctively, she prepared her mind for retaliation.

"**Don't** struggle. Your brain doesn't deserve a bullet destroying it, unless you force me to fire. Then, I do the same to myself." Kono's eyes widened. Adam had gone over the edge; he was insane. He began moving towards the door, hauling Kono along with him. "I really want you, Kono," he relayed in hushed tones. "You've forced me to do this. You're mine!" Before they went through her front door, Noshimuri divested her finger of the ring and let it floor to the floor. "I didn't save you just to lose you." When they were at his car, he released her, but still had the gun aimed at her head. "Get in," he demanded.

Kono obeyed, having opened the door on her side.

"Slide over," Noshimuri preempted. "You're driving, _kanojo_. Take us to the airport. My private jet will take us to Japan. Our new home."

"You can't be serious," she rasped.

"You'll love my private estate on the outskirts of Tokyo." Hastily he amended, "_Our_ private estate, _kawaii_."

Kono started up his sapphire blue Lexus LFA Nurburgring, bristling. While she was seeing red, she had to admit that his car was banging. Shaking herself mentally, she vowed that, gun or no gun, if he kept using those nauseating terms of endearment on her, she was going for his jugular. In the meantime, she would bide her time, keep alive and look for her opportunity to escape. _The airport_, she thought, already devising strategy.

The Lexus tore off from the border of her front lawn. Kono had peeled out deliberately, hoping that her company had ears for the unusual. Noshimori warned her again. She smirked, but made sure he didn't see. Her unuttered wish came true. Danny and Chin barreled through her house and arrived at the front door in time to see Noshimuri's signature car race past the tidy neighbor's house two doors down to the right.

"He's got her, Chin!" Danny hollered, out of his mind. He crouched down to retrieve Kono's special property. He slipped the ring into his back pocket for safekeeping. "There's no way she'd go anywhere with him without my knowing! The freak's kidnapped her! I can't believe we didn't hear a thing till the pedal hit the metal."

"C'mon-we gotta catch them," Chin cried as the two men flew out of Kono's house and jumped atop his chopper marked with skull and crossbones.

Cinching the physically-honed Hawaiian's waist, Danny yelled when he urged, "Hurry!"

The motorcycle roared to life and Chin had it skirring down Kono's street in full flat-out pursuit of the Lexus that was nearly two blocks away. The bike veered wildly to the left as it convulsed forward, unseating Danny and he slid off, hitting the ground hard.

"Go—go—go!" he shouted at Chin, who had slowed. Danny was flat on his back, sprawled. His head had hit the concrete solidly, and since he hadn't been wearing a helmet, the back of his head throbbed for its hurting so much. He lay still several moments, praying he wasn't concussed.

Kelly sped off then, obsessed with catching Kono's entrapper. He had promptly dismissed checking out how Danny was. Breathing erratically, Chin shot off his mouth in anger. "Noshimuri, you _ilio_. You're a dead man!"

He rode as if a lava flow were about to overtake him.

TBC


	17. And So It Goes

On the southernmost access road of Honolulu International Airport, the one that led to the area where private jets were accommodated, Adam Noshimuri broke down. He sobbed against Kono's shoulder as she held him tight. She had never felt so torn as to what she should do next.

For now, she opted for succoring the distraught man, whose present state of frayed control of his emotions placed consolation just beyond his grasp.

Kono continued to shush him and he did nothing to stifle his whimpering. A lapse of her thinking rationally intervened and she began to berate herself. Had she driven him to all of this? Was it her fault that she had fallen out of love with him and had fallen for another? What did she owe Adam, the rest of her life?

It was obvious that he thought so; Kono did some deep, on the spot soul searching. She was grateful to Adam. She'd told him so over and over again, but it wasn't enough. Again, he convulsed in her arms. Again, Kono cooed into his ear, "Shu, shu. It's going to be all right. I promise."

His gun lay in her lap. In her mind, the sensitive p-code for 'officer needs assistance,' rang out in her mind. He sobbed even more violently, clutching her as though for dear life. And then she was forced to mentally tack on, _my former boyfriend could use a lot too_.

Slowly, Adam raised his head, ungluing his facial features, which had been pressed against the side of Kono's chest. He stared listlessly into her sympathetic eyes. She made the most of this opportunity. "Sweetheart, I'm sorry," he voiced. "I'm so sorry; I'm beside myself. I never meant for it to be like this. I want you to come away with me 'cause you want to. **Not** 'cause I'm forcing you to." Without warning, he plastered his face into her chest again, snuffling. "I love you—I'll **always** love you, Kono!"

Sounding placatory, Kono said, "I know that. Sure I know that. You saved my life for goodness sake…Adam, hush now."

He whinged; the plaintive sound touched Kono's heart. "Come with me," he beseeched.

While he awaited her answer, she slipped the gun from her lap and dumped it, as unobtrusively as possible, through the car door she had managed to open without Adam's knowledge. Danny's pet phrase for praising her, '_Girl's got skills_,' rippled through her mind.

"I can't."

The varied sounds of aircraft whirred and vibrated around them. From where they sat, Adam's luxury jet was clearly visible. His personnel were standing by, waiting for the big boss to appear.

Kono wondered whether the three men at the jet had made their boss' car. If they had, they were not acting as though they needed to investigate why the CEO was delaying his approach.

The gun lying on the ground beside the car made Kono breathe easier. Gently, she whispered into Adam's ear, "You can't make me love you when it's not what I feel anymore, Adam. I have no wish to hurt you intentionally. I'd never do that." Her expulsion of air sounded as if she were resigned. "Falling in love with Danny…well, it just sort of happened. And I won't deny that I've never felt this deeply in love, ever." She kissed the side of his head, near his temple. "Please understand, remembering what we once shared." She teetered betwixt his rationality and his temporary mania, which had driven him to this impromptu kidnapping. She squeezed his hand. "Please, Adam…" She held his hand like a vise. "Let me go."

Adam pinned her with confused-looking eyes, but said nothing until he could feel Kono's truth. "What makes _him_ better than me?"

Kono brought Adam's hands up to her lips, they lingered over the sleek, warm skin as she insisted, "It's not a question of who's better. It's who I love more. If you're asking for honesty, I'm giving it to you."

Adam appeared dazed, but a look, fuzzy at first, became one of acceptance. He contemplated the alluring curvature of her face and sighed. "You are nothing, if not honest. You are always that. You are being honest with me." It was his turn to bring her hands to his lips. Paying 'lip service' to them in a most literal way, he couldn't help but notice that her car door stood slightly open. He eyed her empty lap, realizing that his weapon, which he had voluntarily placed there, was missing. Unhesitantly, he requested, "May I have my gun back?"

Kono started looking uneasy again. If she had been wearing her service revolver back at her house, this entire scenario might have been avoided. Although, she just couldn't see herself fatally wounding Adam. Incapacitate him by clipping him, resulting in a flesh wound? Maybe, she considered. She wanted to trust him. He seemed to be having a change of heart, but was it valid? As though in slow motion, she slid her left arm through the slight space of the open door and retrieved his top drawer firearm.

"Yes," she allowed.

In possession of his Ruger once more, Adam began shifting closer to Kono. She stiffened immediately. What had she been thinking, giving his gun back to him? What a rookie move. Emotionally overloaded, Kono shrank from Adam, rueful. His handgun disappeared into the shoulder holster he wore. Leaning across her, he opened up the driver side door wider.

"Get out, _kawaii_. On second thought, this is a trip I have to make on my own." Once a dumbfounded Kono was standing alongside his Lexus, which glistened in the hot tropical sun, which was not far from setting, Adam shut the door and turned the key in the ignition. Over the purr of the engine he said, "If this doesn't prove how much I love you, then nothing ever will. Marry your cop, sweetheart, since I feel how much you want this. But, Kono, this is my solemn promise to you. If it doesn't work out, I'm waiting so you can make me the happiest man who has ever lived."

"Oh, Adam…" The beating of Kono's heart practically stalled.

Making no further reply, he drove off, heading in the direction of his jet. The closer he got, the more his personnel anticipated his long-awaited advance on them. Kono shielded her eyes from the bright sun, watching him like a hawk zeroing in on prey. She was too stunned to think straight. Suddenly, she felt herself being embraced. She looked around and up into the face of her cousin.

All Chin said was, "What happened?"

How long had he been there? She had never heard him pull up on his motorcycle.

It took Kono some time to find her voice, which, when she finally spoke, sounded nothing like hers. "He let me go." Continuing, she croaked out, "He just let me go."

"**He let you go**?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Why did **you** **let him go**?" Chin shot back, appalled. "Why, Cuz, why? He can't get away with what he almost did. You shouldn't have let your personal feelings get in the way of putting him behind bars, where he belongs. Regardless of what he did for us, he committed a crime." The sharp sound of HPD sirens overwhelmed their ears as official vehicles descended on the soon not to be deserted setting. "You know that."

"We owe him—_I_ owe him. He never planned on hurting me, he couldn't. He just went wacko for a while there. I'll never stop owing him, Chin." Kelly placed his hands on her trembling shoulders." He's going back to Japan. He gave me his blessing and is butting out of my life." Kono set her hands atop Chin's. "We're letting him go."

Kono gazed past Chin to see that Adam's plane was taxiing down the runway designated for aircraft of its kind. In her heart there was sadness, but at the same time, relief surfeited her. He was letting her move on, and for that she was deeply grateful. Maybe one day she could look back and realize one's heart was a great deceiver in many things.

"You gonna be all right, Cuz?" Chin asked, eyeing her solicitously.

Nodding, and after they fist-bumped, she replied, "Yeah…" She put a hand on his arm close to his elbow. "I was ju—"

Before she could finish, Noshimuri's jet, about a thousand feet off the ground, exploded and burst into flames over a hodgepodge of a new construction site. Wild-eyed, Kono screamed with her hands clawing at her scalp. As the fuselage began littering the earth below, Chin and she stood transfixed. Immobilized, they couldn't tear their eyes away from the unforeseen destruction. _I could be dead right now_, raced through Kono's mind.

Before Chin could say anything, a uniformed officer ran up to Kalakaua and Kelly.

Agitated, his breath coming in drafts, the sweating peace officer related, "We just got word that Detective Sergeant Williams was taken to Leahi Hospital."

"**Danny**!" Kono was on the verge of coming apart. "**Why**?" she barked. "What happened to Danny!" she shouted.

"He made the nine-one-one call himself. Seems he slid off the back of a motorcycle." The heavy-set police official got a gander at Chin's ride. "_Yours_, as the story goes."

"Yeah_, mine_, while chasing down Noshimuri." Not holding on tightly was a liability, one anyone who ever had ridden, or intended to ride behind someone on a motorcycle needed ingrained in the mind. "I'm going to take a wild guess here and say he'll live," Kelly chided with a smirk. He turned to Kono; she was already climbing on his motorcycle. Her anxious expression was a kick-start. Still to the officer, he said, "I raced here, trying to not to lose ground. Unfortunately, my partner did."

"What exploded?" the HPD cop asked, giving the detective a sidelong glance.

"Chin, c'mon!" Kono ordered, not buying into any of the two men's casual attitude toward the state of her man's medical condition.

Settling himself on his bike, Chin informed the officer, who was scratching his head, "Noshimuri's private jet. We saw it blow no sooner had it taken off."

The HPD cop whistled and met Chin's eyes with a 'the Yakuza way of handling loose ends takes no prisoners.' Chin wanted Kono wearing the helmet. While handing it off to her, he reflected that maybe he should have had Danny wear it. A little forethought, and their having to visit him in the hospital could have been avoided.

HI50

When the cousins arrived at Danny's room, a shapely blonde nurse, wearing too much mascara, was holding a straw to his mouth so he could sip some ice cold water in the Styrofoam cup. He wore a cervical collar. Seeing them, he stopped sipping and grinned. The stern-looking nurse set the cup on the tray, that stood off to the side, and left them alone.

"Can't be too serious since you're smiling like that," Chin verbally surmised, stepping in close to the hospital bed. Force of habit had dictated that he look over Danny's chart.

Visibly revived, seeing him resting comfortably, Kono ran her hand across his forehead, checking for fever. "You're a little warm."

"I'm always warmer here than I would be if I was back in Jersey."

Rubbing his cheek, sounding all kinds of relieved, as he had looked when he laid eyes on her flowing into his room, she asked, "What's with the neck brace?"

"The doc wants me wearing it just as a precaution. It's sprained, not too bad, though."

Bending over, Kono kissed his forehead. "Are they making you stay overnight?"

Voices outside his room interrupted and before Danny could answer her, Steve popped into the room through the open door. "Hey, partner, next time you decide to hop on a chopper, make sure you don't challenge Chin to pop a wheelie."

"Don't count on next time being too soon," Danny sourly replied.

Everyone laughed, Danny included. The gleam in his eyes intensified as he told Kono to hold out her left hand. She did so, not thinking, and when he slipped her ring back on her finger, she cried, "You've slipped it on my finger twice. That's a good sign. We're meant to be tying the knot."

"I can't wait," he exhaled in one blustery gust. Kono repeated her question about his having to stay overnight, and he made it public that for observation purposes, his doctor thought it would be a good idea.

"I'm staying," Kono guaranteed.

Danny got a little misty-eyed and patted the spot close to him on his bed for her to sit. "You really don't have to, but—"

"Of course I'm staying." She folded her arms across her chest, daring anyone to forcibly remove her. "Have they fed you dinner yet?"

"Not yet," he replied glumly.

"I feel the beginnings of domesticity stirring," Steve laughingly commented. Then, a serious note crept into his tone. "HPD informed me about Noshimuri's plane blowing up."

"Any intel on how, or why?" Chin broached.

"Nothing," Steve said. "Nothing at all. It's being investigated."

"What?" Danny uttered, distinctly rocked. "His plane blew?"

Kono filled him in on everything, leaving not one shred of detail out. "I hope it was okay that I let Grace know you're here, but you can tell her you're fine."

"Course it's all right, and I'll get right on that."

Pointing an accusatory finger at Danny, Steve said, "Make Five-0 proud and don't be a cruddy patient. A few friends of mine work here."

"Yes, Daddy," Danny mocked.

Chin hugged Kono before he left and whispered, he thought for only her ears, "You were right about Adam, Cuz. I realize that now. Sorry it ended that way for him."

Gripping the hand that rested upon her shoulder, Kono nodded and wished her teammates a goodnight. Once she and Danny were alone, she began fluffing up his pillow. He asked her for his cell phone in the back pocket of his pants so he could call Grace.

"Yeah, Gracie, it's Danno. No—no, Monkey, I'm fine. Really. Sure—absolutely! You can come see me tomorrow. I'll be home. I'll come pick you up. We can go to the ice palace—can't wait to see what you've been learning from your skating lessons."

Smiling, Kono snuggled against him on the bed. Danny nuzzled the crook of her neck.

Pausing long enough to nod some more, he unfurled, "Guess what, Gracie…I'm getting married."

Kono yanked herself off of him with her mouth agape. A 'seriously?' expression was etched in her face. She mumbled, "You haven't told her that we—"

"Who, Monkey?" Danny chuckled. "Wanna guess?" There was silence at the other end, a long pause. "Give up?" Danny posed to his stumped daughter. Ending the suspense, he announced, "Kono. I'm marrying Kono."

"Is this the first she's hearing about us?" the woman in question charged.

On the other end of the phone, the elite law enforcement agents heard a ecstatic girl cry, "Yippee!"


	18. A New Day Dawning

Steve's lanai was all tricked-out for a wedding reception. It was a catered affair. The overtones were strictly Hawaiian, as was the actual wedding that was taking place on the beach directly behind McGarrett's home. The mid-afternoon sky was a palette of festive hues, the perfect backdrop for the celebratory occasion.

The wedding pictures would look spectacular in this beachfront setting.

The usual suspects associated with Five-0, along with members of the Kalakaua clan and friends, had gathered to witness Kono and Danny's nuptials. Kamekona in a tux had come stag, but not so Max. He too wore a tux, but his date, the bank teller he was smitten with, Sabrina Lane, looked adorable dressed in a pastel azure champagne dress. Catherine Rollins, always chic, was attired in a midnight blue evening gown; she was stunning. She and Steve were picture perfect, standing side-by-side.

Rachel and Stan had been invited, at Kono's insistence, but they had declined to RSVP. Danny had assured her that it was for the best. Weddings could be awkward enough, what with the blending of families and temperaments, accompanied by nerves, fatigue and weirdness of the last minute variety.

Perky Grace Williams was the definition of a pixy, charming ringbearer. Though standing like a soldier with a ramrod up the back, she grinned from ear to ear. Words failed to express how elated the child was that her daddy was marrying such a "super-great person." Kono was going to be her stepmom and surfing teacher rolled into one. That was beyond sensational!

All the women in attendance wore a _haku_ lei in their hair, not just the bride-to-be. Hers was significantly more decorative; in fact, it was more like a wreath of brightly colored island flowers. Their aroma was intoxicating, setting the stage for the euphoria that was sure to come.

The dimpled-faced, blushing bride-to-be was attired in a traditional flowing white Hawaiian wedding dress, a _holoku_. The squeamish-faced groom was also in a white long-sleeved shirt and linen pants. A sash of red flowers hugged his waist. The reason for his pinched looked has nothing to do with these proceedings. He champed at the bit to proclaim his vows, capping them off with the, "I do."

The Hawaiian _kahu_, holy man had long blown the conch shell. The well-timed, auspicious ceremony was officially underway. Following the passionate speech spoken in Hawaiian, the broad-chested _kahu_ voiced what Danny was expected to repeat after him, in English.

Once he got started, willing himself to relax, he recited what he had to say without a hitch. As he went on, it became apparent that he knew when to pause and breathe appropriately. He had been through this before, after all. His eyes never wavered from Kono's, whose were tethered to his; she never blinked. Neither did he. With a breathless undercurrent of desire laced in his voice, he said: "I do."

Kono sounded sweeter than anyone who knew her had ever heard her speak prior to her taking her vows. Her voice gathered strength as she promised her heart, mind and soul to the man she loved. There wasn't a dry eye after she had said her: "I do."

Enjoyably on cue, the pint-sized ringbearer gave up the rings she bore so they could be slipped on the proper fingers.

When their lips met in a kiss, after the _kahu_ invited them to seal their troth, it felt as if the entire island held its breath until they grudgingly broke apart from the torrid embrace before their emotional audience.

There was also a master of ceremony on hand, who bid all their guests flow towards the reception area much later in the afternoon, as the sky subtly darkened, where the celebration could take a more convivial turn.

Setting the right tone for the reception, Steve grabbed the mike from the MC and riotously announced: "Family, dear friends, I'd like to be the first to present to you the new Missus and Mister Danny Williams." The live band on hand played the appropriate strains of the song the couple had chosen to dance their first dance together as husband and wife to.

Their happy onlookers sighed collectively as Kono slid into her husband's waiting arms. Softly, she whispered in his ear, "Tee-minus not many more minutes and counting before our honeymoon. Can't wait." Giggling, she nibbled on his earlobe, while he held her tighter, and cooed, "Danno."

"Say that again," he replied in kind. He felt so lightheaded, fixing his gaze upon the softly glowing tiki torches, strung about Steve's place.

"Danno," Kono huskily said, giggling some more.

"Where is this alleged honeymoon supposed to take place. You haven't even given me a hint. I'm beginning to think you're making this place we're supposed to be going up."

"Would I do that?"

"Uh…maybe. I know how much you guys love pulling jokes on me right and left."

"Danny," Kono said, sounding crestfallen. "I never—" Well, she had to amend with a sigh, "Okay, okay, I may have been in on a few with Chin…"

"_And Steve_," Danny pointedly reminded her.

"Uh, well, yeah. All right—but only that once. And I had said that it wasn't a good idea."

"Only after the two of them admitted that the next time they pulled such a lame stunt, they would stick to your plan, not theirs."

Wrapping her arms securely around Danny's neck, she made another vow, sounding more solemn than when she had uttered her vows in marriage. "I won't do anything like that, ever again to you, _pilikua_."

"Nice, nice," Danny said, smirking against her cheek. "Great way to start off. Calling me that."

"Well, it's what you are."

"Oh? So, you think I'm a pill, huh?"

Gently, Kono shook him, loving the feel of his sturdy, muscular shoulder. "No. I'm going to have to teach you some basic Hawaiian, _brah_. I called you husband, as in mine."

Saucily, Danny retorted, "You can teach me anything you want, later, babe. Like you said, 'can't wait.'" Risking being a bit overfamiliar with her in front of everybody, he patted her butt and gave it a naughty squeeze.

"Oh, I'll teach you all right."

"I'm a fast learner." His eyes held promise of how much he was going to enjoy her schooling.

When the MC solicited that other couples join the newlyweds on the dance floor, Steve was first up to ask to dance with Kono. His Five-0 teammates readily agreed that he should.

"She makes a beautiful bride, doesn't she, Steven." Danny stood aside as he watched his grinning new wife glide into their boss' arms.

"You get nothing but consensus from me, Danno."

"I'm gonna go dance with Gracie."

"Yeah, you do that, Danny," Steve rejoined, reveling in Kono's radiance. "You're so beautiful," he respectfully told her. "He's so happy, he can't see straight. I can tell."

Kono nodded against Steve's shoulder with fresh tears in her eyes. Overcome, what she said came out in a gush. "Thanks, Steve…"

"For what?"

"For everything. For being the best friend he's ever had. And for letting this happen for us. He doesn't say it, but I know. He wasn't sure if you'd be cool with him and me being together."

A prickly sensation scratched Steve's spine and he stood away from her. Puzzlement shrouded his facial features."Kono…I nev—"

"I know. That's what I meant. You never had to say anything. I just knew. You let me figure things out for myself, giving me space to do it." She coaxed him back into her arms. "You're the best, always will be."

Just beyond the perimeter of McGarrett's house, a pair of stealthy eyes peered through binoculars. The man holding them glared as he watched the head of the Five-O task force make a fool of himself with the woman his brother had been a fool for.

Michael Noshimuri's anger came all too easily.


	19. The Williams Give Disney Competition

A/N: I've changed my Pen Name, but it's still me. The looney-tuney who is trying to give back to you dear readers who are investing your time in following this fic. Many, many thanks!

First, his father...now, his brother—both dead. Adam's death, such a waste. What was the cause? Michael Noshimuri wore his glare as though it were stitched in his face. The cause was a woman, a manipulative tigress, a she-devil in the guise of a dimpled siren. Her skin was the color of golden honey and her incredible eyes, which had probed him, each time they had found his, could set his heart and mind racing.

He had been careful to keep the feelings she inspired in him from Adam. Sitting across from her at this very table, he had told himself to avoid her affecting eyes. She had been his brother's girl, his 'one and only,' to have heard Adam tell it. Now his brother was dead; he held _her_ responsible, her and her "you can give the Yakuza up…if you really love me," chant.

And what did she do? She married one of her own, a stupid cop, like herself, but not even Asian or Hawaiian. Michael flinched in disgust.

Michael scanned his deceased kin's residence with blank eyes. He looked without seeing. This fine home was his now, but he preferred having his family here with him instead of having these fashionably-decorated empty rooms all to himself. He sat at the dining table having breakfast. He declined having more juice, but he nodded and the maid filled his coffee cup.

He pursed his lips when his phone vibrated. He did a slow burn, staring at it icily before answering. When he heard the voice of the man calling him, his lips curled. He wasn't smiling exactly; what he wore was more a demented grimace. He grinned.

"Good," Michael flatly replied. Before ending the call he instructed, "Wait for my orders." He chortled deeply in his throat, and mumbled to himself, "Phase two of your demise, Kalakaua…."

_This payback will certainly fulfill its true potential_, he gloated, and drained his coffee cup.

* * *

Disney's Grand Californian Hotel and Spa, had been a surprise. Within spitting distance of Disneyland, located in Anaheim, CA, it was added as part of the Disneyland Resort in 2001, the resort's flagship. The luxury hotel was designed to celebrate the architectural diversity of Northern California, despite its presence here in Orange County. There were 1,019 rooms, wide sweeping roofs, projecting beams, exaggerated braces and colors that accentuated the intent of the architect to have his creation blend in with nature. Both the exterior and the interior of the expansive hotel extolled the Craftsman motif, by and large, proporting a rustic theme in the scheme of things.

The place offered themed swimming pools, specialty dining, the Mandara Spa, which provided treatments; massages; and rejuvenating facials, to purify and cleanse mind and body.

Considering that crime fighting was a dirty business, exhausting and not all that good for one's health, Kono and Danny enjoyed taking full advantage of those featured perks…every bit as much as they loved lounging in their honeymoon suite, with a Jacuzzi inclusive, and actually visiting 'The Magic Kingdom.'

Two days here, and they had visited less than a third of Disney's playground for kids of all ages.

Mrs. Williams' surprise honeymoon getaway had blown Mr. Williams away. The impact her choice of venue had on Danny would have made a hurricane envious. Once, on some stakeout or other together, he had mentioned that he had always wanted to go to Disney_land_, not _World._ It had occurred to him that the park in Florida would probably be too confusing for him to have a good time in. Kono had snickered.

He made no secret of loving L.A.; if Rachel had moved there with Stan, he would have been tickled pink. And felt right at home, like being in Jersey. But then, of course, he would have never met and fallen in love with his Hawaiian living doll. Kono had done her homework, seizing the reins, just one of the many things Danny was crazy about her for. She gave 'take charge' new depth. She'd seen to all of the necessary arrangements for them to spend their honeymoon here. She remembered what 'wowed' her new husband and what had him complaining to the rafters.

Single-mindedly, she had seen to there not being a thing for him to complain about. Things beyond her control didn't stress her.

Presently, Danny was lying on his back, supine. Kono was studying him the way she did the squad's insanely-versatile surface computer. Stretching luxuriously across him while he was still fast asleep, Kono had her head propped up on her hands while lying across her man. His chiseled, flat abdomen made the perfect vantage from which to watch him as he slept.

_Cute, wound-up little sex-machine_, she idly thought. _Sweat_—how he could love. Kono began feeling sweaty at the mere thought. He could wear her out and still be rearing to go again, not batting an eye. He made the most erotic sounds when he had her all worked up. He'd be all over her, everywhere, crying out her name, then whimpering when she told him getting enough of him was impossible—monumentally impossible.

Kono inflected her arm to snake out her hand. His breathing was audible, but he was no snorer. With a grin she thought, _my lover's a sound, but quiet sleeper…can I pick 'em, or what_? Giving into her playful inclination, she stuck two fingers beneath his nose and wriggled them. Amused, she watched Danny's adorably kissable nose (so her words), twitch, as though something with wings, that buzzed, was bothering him.

He let out a loud '_gahumprf_,' and kept snuffling away.

Keeping her laughter low, Kono continued her antic, wanting him to awaken so shenanigans of an entirely different kind would inevitably erupt.

For the most part still unconscious, Danny swatted at his wife's lively fingers. Kono held her breath, counted to three, then blew puffs of breath at his nose, his lips and above his chest where her own lips were poised.

Rumbly, breathy words came from him. "Babe…wha'cha doin'?"

Sounding lustful, Kono whispered, "Trying to wake you up."

"Oh, trying to wake me up." He squinted one lazy eye open. "Why? You see I'm trying to—ooh."

Kono had him by what she wanted him to drive her wanton with. Trying to shift his position did nothing to dissuade her, the amorous vixen. "I'm trying to get you hot."

"Hello." By the sudden turned on look infusing her man's face, she knew she was succeeding. Like a lightning flash, Danny flipped her and she was on her back, writhing along with him. He stuck the nose she'd been toying with between her breasts and nuzzled. Growling against her hot flesh, he attested, "You got it."

Kono gave a full-throated laugh as she dug her hands into his blond mane. "You're my favorite ride."

Avid to live up to her randy praise, Danny hollered the same truth about his energetic, passionate wife when the time came for them to go boneless in ecstasy. They came to a mutual agreement for not leaving the room this day.

Danny would pick up his mouse ears tomorrow. The room service guy knew their room number by heart.


	20. Trouble In Paradise

The waiting room of Dr. Jovin Kirkland's office had all the trappings of being user friendly. Plenty of current magazines to thumb through to distract oneself…a convenient water cooler, the water was really cold. If one wanted a nice cup of tea or coffee, the cooler's hot water was spot on. Pretty, bright pictures decorated the office's pale blue walls. Notwithstanding, it was still a dentist's office, after all.

And, their beloved Danny, his lower jaw as painful as all get-out, was having a root canal, without any anesthesia. _Ouch_! His dentist was of the opinion that the side effect of the drug outweighed its use. At the tail-end of the honeymoon, the nerve in one of his back molars decided to act up, giving him sheer grief. At least they had managed to do Disney one day before the things had taken a turn for the worst in his mouth.

His abscess was one for the books.

He had refused treatment in Los Angeles—refused. The plane ride home with him had been…sad. He had been in a lot of pain, not caring how much he complained. He'd had good reason, though, and Kono tried hard to be comforting as best she could, without stuffing a sock in him.

Grace and Kono were sitting in the office, trying to ignore their loved one's bellowing, snipes and general grunts and groans of malcontentment. His daughter would look up from her "Highlights" magazine for children aged six to twelve, with eyes full of concern and agitation for Danno. Kono would cringe, pat her stepdaughter's knee.

"He's going to be all right. Promise," she would whisper.

Putting faith in her stepmother's reassurance, Gracie, wearing the Mickey mouse-ears hat Danny had gotten for her, would concentrate on finding the hidden picture in the puzzle she was trying to figure out. Only when she heard the obstreperous outbursts of her father would her eyes worriedly meet Kono's again.

The cycle was repeated several times.

Another half hour into the dental dealings passed. Danny still wasn't through. It was going on five o'clock in the afternoon. Neither Grace nor Kono had moved from the waiting room.

Eight puzzles down, and no more to go. Grace was tired and a little bored with them. Sensing the young girl was ready for another distraction, Kono put out her hand to her. "Are you hungry?"

Nodding, Grace told her that she hadn't eaten much breakfast, hadn't been hungry early this morning since it was her father's turn for enjoying his right of having joint custody. Without warning, the eruption of pain in her dad's temporarily-capped tooth had preempted their plans for the three of them going to Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park, located immediately off of H-1 in Oahu's second largest city, Kapolei. The park offered twenty-five acre of every kind of swirling, churning, bubbling wet fun imaginable.

Grace was determined to try out every place that promised water fun on the island. Danny had promised to take her, and now that he was married to a bona fide obsessive water-lover, Grace had it made.

Rising from the doubly-cushy chair, Kono suggested, "It will probably be okay if we go on a food run." Grace wasn't fussy, but Kono was still somewhat fuzzy about what the girl liked to eat. She knew what she was in the mood for. "Do you like Coco Puffs?"

"I sure do! I'm coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs." Grace saw herself sitting down at the breakfast table and pouring herself a big bowlful of the sugary chocolaty cereal. Laughing, she kept saying how coo-coo she was about them.

Hearing the child had misunderstood, Kono said, "Yeah, those are good too, but I'm talking about the Coco Puffs that the Liliha Bakery makes. They're filled with chocolate cream and Chantilly frosting."

Smiling wide, Grace confirmed, "Oh, yeah—I like those too. So does Danno."

Winking, Kono knew that was right. "He sure does. Tell you what…why don't we run off and go get some."

"But what about Danno?" Grace threw a worried look at the door the torturing of her dad was going on behind.

Kono glanced at the door too. She looked at it lovingly, just as concerned as the little girl was. "I can tell Doctor Kirkland's receptionist that we stepped out for a moment, but we're coming right back. Liliha's not far from here."

That idea got Grace's approval and she stood too. Kono made a beeline for the reception alcove so she could inform the willowy, hazel-eyed woman in her forties that they'd be right back.

"Sure," she said. "It might be a bit longer. Get yourselves something to eat. Even if the doctor is done with him before you guys get back, I'll make sure he stays put."

"Appreciate that," Kono thanked with a cheery display of her peppy dimples.

The cop and the schoolgirl made it as far as the car before they were stopped by HPD. A Detective Meilani identified Kono. When she acknowledged who she was, he began reading her rights to her.

Sounding frightened, Grace mewled, "Kono what's going on? Why are they handcuffing you? What's happening?"

Just as in the dark about what was going down as the child was, she answered, "I don't know, honey." Her voice took on more authority. "Why am I being arrested, Detective?"

Just as authoritatively, Meilani replied, "We're taking you in as a murder suspect."

"Murder?" Kono brayed, at a complete loss. "Me? I supposedly murdered someone? Who?"

"We'll fill you in down at headquarters. Not here."

Two uniforms were moving Kono along, trying to get her into the squad car. Grace was in shock, along with her stepmother.

"No, no, you can't take Kono—no!"

"It's all right, Grace. It's all right. It's a misunderstanding." To Meilani she said, "This is my stepdaughter, Grace Williams. Her father is Detective Danny Williams of Five-O. I'm Kono Kalakaua-Williams, his wife, and with Five-O too."

"We know who you are," Meilani upheld. The Force had been keeping tabs on her and her whereabouts going on a month now. They knew who her close relative was as well...Chin Ho Kelly, the 'dirty cop,' who had managed to cleanse himself.

Shaking off his blasé manner, she continued, "My husband's in there having dental work done. I can't go off, leaving her here alone. Please, can't this wait until he's done in there?"

The Detective looked doubtful, not saying much. Then, he instructed, "Officer Kai, you wait with the child." To Kono Meilani asked, "What's the name of Detective Williams' dentist?"

Sluggishly, Kono gave up the name.

"Take the child inside. Explain the circumstances," Meilani stipulated. Then, motioning to the officer holding Kono, he made it clear that he wanted her in the car.

"Kono," Grace cried, as the officer began escorting her back inside the medical building. "Kono, Kono…"

Her voice cracking, she replied, "It's going to be all right, Grace, I promise. Tell Danny what's happened." Glaring up into Meilani's blunt face, she sniped, "Steve McGarrett isn't going to like this."

"You can tell him all about it when you see him," the Detective chided, a vindictive taint to his voice. "He's implicated too."

"He's what?" Kono rasped, throwing herself back against the squad car's rear seat, dazed.

The car tore off, its siren blaring.


	21. Smoke On The Water

A/N: Here's my big apology for the long delay with this update. RL can be most unkind, sometimes. Hope this little installment will be okay. Love you guys!

* * *

Back from the steamy house of detention where Kono was being held, Danny glared at the spotless stove for no apparent reason. Currently, nothing was burning on it. Kono had shown him the right way to fix frittatas. He hadn't grumbled once, and their kitchen never suffered the same fate Steve's had on numerous occasions.

Presently, the Jersey transplant had finished showering in a vain attempt to wash the foul odor of the place off. Not before this had it bothered him much. The stench was loathsome, rubbing his face in a crappy reality. His being a seasoned cop of some valor pulled no weight with the powers that be holding his wife. He was raw nerves and anger right now. He looked about the kitchen they now shared wanting to smash several breakable objects.

And doing that would help Kono how? Danny pounded his fist into the nearest baseboard. Yeah, all right...he needed to calm down and get a grip. There was daylight at the end of this dark, long tunnel. In that daylight would stand Kono, free and cleared of any wrongdoing, once this whole ridiculous mess was cleared up.

But, as things stood, an open-and-shut case was being compounded against his amazing bronze islander and fellow 5-0 teammate.

They had no cause, not even probable, to be holding his wife. What they did have was a story of suspicious origin implicating Kono. Ballistics had her gun; supposedly it had been used in a murder. Just because the bullets discharged from her firearm had been removed from the victim did not prove she had fired her weapon. If that weren't awful enough, somehow, Steve had been implicated. The allegation made against him charged him with putting Kono up to committing the offense. Anyone possessing a sound mind, knowing McGarrett, knew that had to be bogus. Fabrication was blowing heavily in the wind in correlation with these circumstances.

Nothing on earth would drive Kono to shoot down an innocent man in cold blood. Details were agonizingly sketchy. Available information was incriminating, but smacked of being circumstantial. It made for galling, just plain baseless conjecture. Despite all appearances to the contrary, Kono was as clean as a whistle, as always.

Where was the hard liquor in this house hiding? Danny grunted when he remembered, aiming himself at the small pantry just behind the adjacent wall of the sun room. It wasn't an abundant supply of booze, but it was adequate for his need. He didn't intend on getting roaring drunk, just comfortably inebriated for the distraction. This day sucked and his solution for flushing it down the toilet was wetting his whistle, so his racing mind could drift for a while.

He needed comforting and refueling. The first belt went down with a slickness that lubricated his tongue. After setting his empty glass down, he braced himself against the sink with both hands. With eyes closed, he let out a strangled-sounding, "Aggrh…"

Yes indeedy...the allegation implicating McGarrett… So out of character for super SEAL, such a power play for the one or ones responsible for this frame-up. This was so what it all was, a frame-up of gigantic proportions. Steve ordering Kono to make the hit-insane. As with her, there was no concrete proof Steve had done this, just the word of a dodgy informant, whose identity could not be disclosed. The nondisclosure was ordered by Denning himself. The informant was being held in protective custody. Why? Because, and Danny got to learn this by sheer use of brute force, there was suspicion of Yakuza involvement in this whole ugly thing.

About to pour himself another stiff belt, Danny paused long enough to let the ringtone his daughter used for him sound throughout the home. Talking with Grace was precious, but at the moment, the idea of speaking with her tore him up inside. She and Kono had been separated when the arrest had gone down. He couldn't help cringing, fearing that his daughter would carry the psychological scars for the rest of her life owed to the wrenching, painful separation Grace had described. Jerking himself from his unsavory reverie, he stopped what he was doing to snatch it up.

"Monkey…yeah. I'm glad to hear your voice too. Uh huh. I saw her. Yeah. She's fine. No. No one hurt her. She is absolutely okay." Danny squeezed his eyes tightly shut. Seeing Kono where they had her made him physically ill. The women being held with her weren't too genial about sharing air space with a cop. "She asked about you. When?" His brow creased into rigid furrows. His lengthy sigh seemed to fill the breadth of the entire house he now shared with his rough-and-tumble mate. "I don't know, Monkey. But, she's gonna be home soon. I promise.

"Do? What did she do?" The barefaced scowl Danny inflicted on the fridge had the brute force of a sledgehammer about to be smashed against a wall, wielded by a 250-pound linebacker. Seeing white-hot red again, he held his tongue before spewing something unfit for his young child's ears. "Not a thing, Monkey. Not a _damn_ thing!" Oops...

The small voice on the other end of the call hitched when the child stole a breath.

Coughing a little, hating that his language had gotten a touch vulgar, Danny ruefully atoned, "Pardon my French. Monkey, as soon as Kono's with me again, we'll have the special day we had planned. I promise. It's all gonna be okay. Don't you worry. Okay?" When Grace allayed her father's misgivings, he finished, "I'm all over this. Whoever's behind this double-dealing is going down all the way to China Town. I'll keep you posted, Monkey. No doubt." What she said, before she ended the call, made him smile. She loved it when her dad talked gung-ho, semi-officially to her, made her feel like a part of the best team of law enforcement on the islands. Feeling more control of himself than he had moments ago, Danny grinned even wider.

"I know you do, baby girl. That's why you're part of Five-0 too—don't you ever forget it."


	22. Keep The Home Fires Burning

The wheels of justice sometimes ground to a complete halt. Then, when one least expected it, they moved with the volition of hyperspeed. _Amen_, Danny thought, waiting, his anticipation high. The two people who mattered, most, who had given his life stability and purpose, had been freed. Kono was about to be released from custody. Steve had been already.

All charges had been dropped for lack of sufficient evidence to convict. It had never been spelled out with any clarity just how the ex-Navy SEAL had figured into the whole ridiculous thing. Yeah, Kono's gun had been involved in the incident, but there was no way it could be proven that she had pulled the trigger.

The smile of satisfaction on Danny's face was evidence that if one ranted, raved and had Chin Ho as an ally, even the worst crap would get cleared up. There was no reason to allow glumness to rule his world. Dejection and catatonia had been banished. Henceforth, the honeymoon would continue. That suited the forward-looking husband just fine.

Danny spotted Kono just as Steve was pulling up in his Silverado. McGarrett got out as Kono made a headlong run at Danny. Steve beamed, seeing her tackle him, smashing into his arms like a wrecking ball. She bowled him over, but he still stood. Like a ramrod, it took a lot to knock him down. Kono's power was more like excessive inalterable force.

With hands all over her, he said, sighing, "Babe, babe—babe…" He laughed as tears of joy streamed from his eyes. Kono daubed at them, cupping his face tenderly. "Sight for sore, minus the confinement." He fingered her thin-strapped, tank top, the one she'd been wearing when she'd been hauled in.

Her mouth invaded his, her tongue sweeping through his sweet-tasting cavity with essence of coco puffs on his palate. The sapor of coffee lingered in the background, coffee with cream. Coming up for air any time soon was an afterthought. Her hitting him with her best shot was something he'd never complain about. She molded her body to his.

Kono tasted like sweet and sour. "Missed you," she finally wheezed.

They had endured the forced separation for close to a month. Kono smelled like jasmine laced with watermelon, as though she had just come from a rainforest. How had she managed such a bouquet in lockdown? Smiling, Danny let it go, like it made a difference? No barriers existed between them, no protocols, no non-substantiated interference. They were reunited and it felt beyond good. He held her like a vice.

"Welcome back, Kono," Steve belatedly spoke up.

"It's great to be free." She wore her smile the way she flashed her badge, nothing hesitant about it. "I intend to stay that way."

"You better know it's gonna stay that way." Danny buried his nose into her head, losing himself in Kono's soul-stirring aura.

Steve went in for the group hug, overjoyed to have his _ohana_ back intact and fully aware that there were foes out there willing to stop at nothing to bring him, and his team along with him, down. "Right. They mess with one of us, they mess with all of us. Family pride surges in our blood. I pity the fools who dream they get the upper hand."

"You sound like you know something," Danny intimated, lovingly drawing loopy circles on his wife's back.

"Kamekona might."

"Oh?" Kono tossed in, looking all descriptions of inquisitive. "What have you got?"

"He says a possible lead on who might be involved in trying to take us down, piece by piece." Saying that left a gritty taste in Steve's mouth. "We need to be heaing his way."

"Uh…guys…mind if I pass paying him a visit this instant? I've been looking forward to lathering the sleaze of detention off me as soon as I got out. Like, right now." It might take several soakings, determined scrubbing she reckoned. Contamination of mind, heart and body lay heavily in cells. Women who saw themselves as having nothing to lose could do a number on an innocent soul's mental makeup.

Kono considered one of the detainees, a woman who called herself, 'Magna-Mitts," Mag for short. Anyone seeing her would have had no problem with why she brandished the nickname like a club. The 35-year-old meaty female with dark close-cropped hair had hands like mallets. She had tried making some unwanted moves on Kono in their shared cell.

Promptly, she had soon learned why Kono's nickname was _kianapauka_…dynamite, end of discussion. Quite a number of the women being held had taken to calling her 'spitfire.' They learned the hard way that no one cornered the resilient member of 5-0 with the double X chromosomes and escaped _whumping_.

"Take my car, uh, _our_ car, honey, and I'll head over with Steve."

Kono turned her head, keeping her eye on her man. "I'll probably still be in the tub, so make sure you come back good and dirty."

Steve covered his ears with his hands. "Please, please, spare me the verbal foreplay."

Kono and Danny winked at him, a saucy rendition of what she wanted him to think about until they consummated those feelings in their home. The more compactly-built of the two men replied, "I am sure it's nothing you haven't heard before."

Wilting, Steve let that go as he waited for Danny to climb into the Silverado, then he followed suit. Before Kono pulled off in the Camaro, her husband shouted, "Yo, Babe, you got sprung just in time."

Steve was revving the truck's engine. Kono waited for Danny's revelation, already luxuriating in a bathtub overflowing with suds. "Sooner rather than later, but I digress," she teased.

Steve provided the details. "Kamekona's got prime tickets for the Pro Bowl."

Danny's eyes sparkled as he jiggered his eyebrows. "We better be close to the field like I instructed."

There was a knowingness to Steve's delivery. "Don't worry. He's fixed us up. So, we feel him out about the lead, and pick up our tickets. A win, win." A light seemed to shine in his eyes. "Oh, and what's really important is that your husband, at long last, gets to meet his idol…Peyton Manning."

Danny sighted Steve, catching him in his visual crosshairs. "Yeah, so?"

A luminous look settled in Kono's eyes. "Idol, huh?"

"You're first idol," Danny covered.

Sounding knowing, and looking the part, she said, "Do I look worried?"

Steve laughed. "Nah. Not you."

"See ya at home, _kane_," she bantered with Danny.

He waved goodbye as she took off and called to her, "Save room in there for me, wifey. I'll get more wine. I sort of went to town while you were gone. Lonely." He blew her a flurry of kisses, which she laughingly caught.

Making cow eyes at them, Steve got the truck moving and headed for Waikiki.


	23. Maneuvers

They weren't members of the Dawn Patrol, not officially, anyway. Normally, they arrived together, surfed until about 9:30 a.m., then headed to their respective homes to ready themselves for the day's work. Surfing together was their ritual, pre- and post- her nuptials.

Still, he never failed to ask her on a fairly routine basis, "So he's all right with this?" Steve had his eyes on the same thing she did, a lurching surge of spectacular water in the throes of forming still some distance away. The wind was blowing off-shore.

The point break waves were nothing short of miraculous this early morn.

Dividing her attention between him and the embryonic perfect wave, Kono, sufficiently amped, replied, "Huh?" No time to wait for his reply, she began paddling towards the prize. In go mode, there was no turning back. Envisioning herself charging the wave, Kono paddled as if her arms were on fire.

Steve was in hot pursuit. Her answer could wait. The wave braced perfectly, which made for a spectacular ride. The entire set had them gasping from sheer joy. Finer surf they had never seen in a long time. They were like two wet kids in a watery candy store.

"Kono!" The grin on Steve's face was suitable for framing. "Hoh—the waves are spitting hard. Wicked!"

She couldn't stop whistling, her acrobatics on her board tripping him out. "Hey, Boss, you hang ten like my grandmother!" Kono laughed so hard, she nearly fell off her board. She didn't, though. Her dexterity and quickness rivaled Steve's.

"Knowing your grannie, thanks for the high praise." He almost kicked out, but decided to take the ride on this heaving swell. And, what a ride he would make it, he vowed, his heart pumping pure adrenaline.

"You're welcome," Kono hollered, watching him take the next worthy wave while she let it go. She called after him, "Stick in the fade." Aside from the phenomenal native surfers she knew, McGarrett could rip and carve with the best of them. He really was something to see in shredding action. She never tired of watching him.

Another perfect set had them beyond stoked. The final wave of that set, which they again rode together, was the 'reeler' of the day. "Beauties, every one of 'em this morning. Loved how heavy it was. How'd we get so lucky?"

"_Lucky_? Don't believe in luck, remember? Like I don't believe in drama queen-soothsayers." Proudly, yet tempered by admiration for the one to whom she spoke, Kono said, "We respect what we ride, and the surf pays us back. When you surf, Steve, it's watching poetry in motion." She assessed her performance, encouraged by Steve's look of validation. "I haven't gone off like this since before I got married."

"Kono, I know of no one past, present, and yeah future, who 'jigsaws' like you, woman. I watch you. It's spiritual."

"Like I said, same for me, watching you."

They waded through the swirling water, striding side by side as they hefted their boards, coming out of the surf. Though they were a bit worn-out, it was the good kind. It smoothed out the kinks, keeping them tough and toned for their demanding line of work.

"Which brings me to my hundred thousand dollar question, Steve said, planting his board, nose first, into the sand. "Danny doesn't mind this time you put in with me surfing?"

Although taken aback by Steve's quizzical inquiry, she played it off, always did. He asked the same tired thing every time they got together. One should think that he'd get tired of asking, especially since she habitually gave him the same answer.

Today, why not mix it up a little?

His chain needed a good yanking. He could be a real 'jabber,' sometimes. Harmless fun added zest to any relationship, between friends as well as significant others. "As a matter of fact…I've been meaning to talk to you about it." Kono's eyes were as round as saucers. Innocence leaked from them. She began finger-combing her hair to ease out some of the tangles.

"Oh?" He raised both eyebrows. "Is there a problem?"

"That's what I'm trying to avoid."

"What are you saying, Kono?"

"I promised him that this would be our last time meeting early like this, alone."

"What the hell?"

Kono nodded, juggling candor with regret. "I didn't know how to tell you…"

Incredulous, Steve squawked, "I can't believe this! He's _jealous_? Of _me_?"

"Hmmm, more like whiny, with some sulk thrown in."

"When isn't he? No offense, Kono, but your husband needs to get a severe _grip_." Increased excitability took over. "He's certifiable, you know that, right. If he's so seriously brain-dead over this, he should have come to me, said something about what we can't get enough of, aquatically speaking."

"He thought it was better if I mentioned it. Hey, we know we're cool. Lately, he's been droppin' hints that maybe we should, me and he, take up a hobby. For quality-time togetherness' sake."

"Okay, that's cool, nothing wrong with you two spending more time together. I just can't get over that he's _jealous_. He's got _no_ case whatsoever! And, Kono, listen. I'm not trying to tell you how to run your marriage, but seriously. You can't let him _dictate_ to you what you can and cannot. Am I right, or am I right?"

Scoffing, Kono replied, "Course not, but he has _a right_ to express his feelings. I respect that."

Steve muttered how nuts Danny was again, a few more times. "I can't believe him—y'know when I see him—is he forgetting that I'm in a committed relationship? This is nuts, absolutely nuts."

Kono took his assessment in stride. After a shrug, she felt it was her duty to submit, "Oh, about that…he thinks you should get your own wife, and stop using his. Says you're giving Catherine the run-around, not being fair. Just wasting her time. He says you ought to 'marry the girl.' _His_ words, not mine. Make an honest woman of her."

_I'll skin that runt alive_…

Kalakaua-Williams thought she saw actual steam stream from McGarrett's nostrils. She hid her mouth behind a hand to shield her budding smile from him.

"You tell him—no—_I_ will. He needs to mind his own damn business." Seething, Steve growled, "I'm gonna kick his a—"

"No you're not." She could barely contain the giggling now.

"Oh, no? You watch me!"

"You're not, because there's no reason you should kick it."

Protesting, Steve said, "But you just said…" He eyed her cagily. "Hey, what's so funny?"

She was plainspoken when she told him. "You…"

"Oh, y'think so, huh? Just wait how funny I make your husband look." Knowingly, he finished, "You'll thank me, Kono. I'm doing you a favor. Nip his spoiled, dictatorial bent in the bud. Frankly, I'm shocked, you letting him tell you what's what. Y'can't let Danny walk all over you. Give him an inch, he takes everything."

If their fearless head honcho could only see her man when it was just the two of them, at home, alone. Someone did the walking all over part, but it wasn't Danny. The Jersey guy did a very respectable imitation of a lap dog when his wife came at him full force.

Kono was laughing like a little kid. Her sloppy belly-aching laughter rang out across the beach.

"Kono!"

Dropping like a sack of wet cement to her knees, holding her middle, still quaking with laughter, she rasped, "Gotcha!"

"Got who?" Steve retorted scornfully. He gawked at her as if she'd gone mad.

"_You_, Boss. I made it all up. You're such an easy mark. Danny's right!" Her careless wheezing had barely abated. "I couldn't resist. Pulling your leg big time. I'm just kidding about my babe having a jealous nature. He couldn't care less I go surfing with you. I could go every day. He wouldn't give it a second thought."

"Oh…so you thought you'd have a little fun at my expense, eh, Kono?" Before he gave her a chance to reply, he struck like a rattlesnake. Grasping her up in his arms, their muscles rippling, he streaked with her back into the surf where the roiling waves washed over them both. Holding her in his viselike grip, he vowed, "Don't-you-ever!"

"Don't what?" Kono said, her laughter breathy as she pealed. "Set you up? No can do, Boss. You just make it way too easy."

"Sass me will you, you crazy—" _How to stuff a wild bikini_...1965. A wave crashed against his head. Undazed, but startled, he blurted, "Beautiful _wahine_!" Instead of letting go, his arms tightened around her to keep the breakers from wrenching Kono from them.

Confounded, as she squirmed, vigorously worming her way out of Steve's arms, a voice familiar to them both contested, "What's goin' on?" Bemused, Danny squinted at the unalert pair engaged in horseplay, shielding his eyes from the gusts that had changed to on-shore.

Breaking free from Steve, Kono answered, "Hey, Babe. This is a surprise."

"How so?"

"You never said you were coming down."

"Did I _have_ to?" Danny's eyes shifted to Steve. "Surfing is surfing. What you two were doing…don't believe I'd call it surfing."

McGarrett took to rubbing the back of his neck, grinning at his second-in-command. "Hey, Danno."

He faced around, taking in their boards wedged in the sand like pickets from a fence. "Did you _not_ surf this morning?"

"Oh, we surfed." Steve shot Kono a look pointblank. A feeling of guilt crept up his spine. "Sure we did. Right, Kono?"

"Okay," she retorted airily, leaving the water, "you want the truth?" Snorting, she eyed her hubby, who was clearly in a dither; her eyes were laughing.

_Just because you're my husband, doesn't mean you're not fair game_…_man, I love this_...

Nodding, Danny agreed. "Yeah." He clasped his hands, rubbing them together. "That would be refreshing. Always is."

Standing alongside her mate, with an arm draped over his shoulders, Kono confessed, "Of course we surfed, to warm up. And then we made out."

Danny's heart stopped beating.

She flashed Steve her piss-slurping grin, with the tip of her tongue poked out, the way she handled her badge after he had called her evil.

TBC...


	24. Water Babies

The 'evil one' tossed and turned in the bed beside her husband. In her dream, Adam Noshimuri wasn't dead. He was very much alive and was trying to kidnap her. Incoherent while jabbering, Kono fought tooth and nail against capture, hammer and tongs. He wouldn't get her, not this time.

Just as Noshimuri, laughing uproariously, readied to lasso her, using a glowing, fiery whip, Kono reviled him. She called her former lover every vile thing she could think of. Just as it looked as though she would be his tragic prize, Adam burst into flames. He self-combusted veritably before her frenzied eyes. She went even more berserk, screaming a name, but not Adam's.

"Steve—Steve—Steve!" Strong, thin legs, entangled with her husband's, thrashed. As though they wanted to run, they writhed violently, buffeting her spouse's motionless body. "Steve—I can't see you!"

Rudely jostled awake, Danny sluggishly clamped his arm around her shimmying waist, bracing her. "Kono—hey…" he croaked. "Wha-? Honey, what's the matter?" His answer was a swift kick to the breadbasket. He coughed, then cried out, "Ow!" Much wider awake and alarmed by Kono's psycho agitation, he forcefully restrained her. "Kono, Kono, wake up! You're dreaming. Wake up!"

Obeying his command didn't come easy for the terrified beholder of bizarre, imaginary fiction. In fact, she fought harder, still laboring under the impression that Steve hadn't come to her aid. Instead, Adam's brother, Michael had appeared, brandishing a gun that looked a lot like her service revolver. He was laughing, grinning, but deadly, as he took pot shots at her. The harder she dodged the barrage, the more rapidly he fired until, she felt a bullet was moments away from ripping into her, despite how nimbly she scurried. When the bullet hit, it passed right through, leaving her unscathed.

Danny sat straight up to curb her. He eased her into a gentle chinlock, exerting just enough pressure to get her to stop her mockery of combat. He was afraid she'd hurt herself. "Babe, you're all right. You're safe." He stroked the side of her face with feathery caresses. He kissed her cheek and she opened her eyes fully. Her bleary eyes bored into his.

"D-Danny…"

"That's me."

"Thank God."

"Sorry I'm not Steve?" He superimposed his wiseacre mug against her cheek.

"Huh? Not Steve? What the hell are you talking about?"

"While you dreamt, you called Super SEAL's name like he was your personal lifejacket."

Mystification seized Kono. Instinctively, she hugged Danny tighter, unsure of what to make of his revelation. "Dreams are crazy." A little of what she had dreamed filtered into consciousness. "Adam was after me. His brother too." Haltingly, she continued, "I heard Steve shouting my name, but I never saw him."

"That explains the way you sounded. Like you'd lost your mind."

Kono balled up the sheets with her fists. "I can't remember much else."

"It doesn't matter, Babe. What matters is you're here, with me. I will destroy anyone who tries to hurt you. That's an oath I made the day we made all those promises to each other."

"Danny…Danny," Kono said, sighing, burrowing deeper into his warm, muscular body. "I said I was sorry about pulling that silly joke on the beach." A frown etched in her captivating face, even at this hour, moments before dawn, with light faintly registering in their bedroom, could have been indelible. "Subconsciously I said 'Steve.' You know I mean you. It'll always be _you_."

Danny tried erasing those frown lines with a thumb. "Like I don't know how much you love playing those over-the-top, _im_practical jokes? Okay, at the time, you had me better than good. Then, I saw the look in your eyes, like they were about to fall out. You thought I had died on the spot. _I_ said, right after I remembered how to breathe again, and good old Super SEAL ran after me, tackled me as I stalked off, 'what was there to forgive?'"

Kono nodded against Danny. "I went too far."

"Okay…_maybe_…but—"

"Thought I was being cute. I'd _never_ cheat on you, _ipo_. _Never_."

"Like I don't know that. C'mon." He eased himself, along with Kono, against the unpainted plank headboard of their spacious bed. As long as he lived, he would never forget the look in her eyes and on her distraught face because she thought he had believed her prankish lie. "Two for one," Danny whispered against her glossy tresses. "You shot both of us down; never saw Steve's face look like _that_ before. Worse than the look he had when Doris popped back up."

"I promised I won't do anything like that again."

"I know you won't, 'cause you promised. But if you stop hoaxing altogether, I won't like that either."

Kono huffed. "You say that now, but you could live without my 'hustle and flow.'"

With one failed marriage under his belt he had learned. "Look, Babe, be who you are, not what you think I want you to be." Danny huffed right back, throwing in a light butt spank. "Excepting our marriage, everything else is fair game." He arched a brow until she had no choice but to concede.

"_Ae_, ipo."

"_Pela maika'ia'e_." His Hawaiian was really coming along. He shifted so Kono would be more comfortable. After kissing her forehead, he said, "And speaking of better…your timing with heavy machinery couldn't have been any more superior, Babe. Those cartel goons had the severe drop on us. If it hadn't been for your solid ability to catch on quick with that crane, the bulk of Five-0 wouldn't be alive right now."

"My dream man is alive and well." Kono's lips tantalized Danny's as she pressed her body heavily onto his, straddling him.

"Thanks to my dream girl."

"You're welcome, handsome." Slyly, she enticed, "Know how you can return the favor?"

Siphoning off the gleam in her eyes, he surely knew. "Like that idea, always do. Know what I'd like better?"

"What?" Kono replied while moaning.

Her sounding like that worked its magic, getting him all hot and bothered. "Let's do it in the shower," he hoarsely pleaded.

As naked as they had gone to bed, they sprang from it. Danny scooped Kono up and raced with her into the bathroom. On the way, Kono laughingly asked, "So, what do you think about Leilani and Chin?"

Nibbling on his wife's right shoulder, Danny replied, "It's a slam dunk. She's hot—not hotter than you, of course—and your cousin needs to get out more."

"Think it's too soon?" Kono's eyes swept over Danny. "Chin's still lost sometimes."

Hauling Kono into the shower stall, Danny saucily replied, "And beautiful Leilani will help him…" Setting her down, Danny backed Kono up against the opaque wall of the enclosure, positioning her arms above her head. "Find the sexy way back to nookie-ville. A nice neighborhood to get lost in."

"Danny! Yo, brah." She gawped and guffawed, but kept going for his mouth. "Sometimes I think that's _all _you have on your mind." Giggling, Kono squeezed the slick sensitive skin close to his armpits.

"Right now—you're right." He play-bit into her neck. "Nicer when…the one you love has promised to love you too…forever."

"I do," Kono embellished with a sugary smirk playing on her picture-perfect face. "Love you."

"Love you more."

"It's a draw."

Once Kono twisted the single faucet, and expertly regulated the water temperature, they got down to serious business.

The commitments they had made to, for Kono, work on Brant's, the surviving brother boat with Steve, and for Danny to go to the Kapu, the local surf club, to help Kawika repair the damage caused by the fire weren't optional.

TBC…


	25. Bonded

The water park promise was being kept. Unlike the last time he had taken his daughter to one, this time, he was dressed the part. For a day of fun in the sun and water, lots of water, he wore a bright blue pair of boardshorts. Orange zigzags accented the aquatic design. Kono wore a denim look tankini. Danny always thought she looked great in her bikinis. The suit she wore today, while more modest in his estimation, made her look more sexy. His wife was a flat-out babe, regardless of what she wore.

When she wore nothing…there were no words.

"Okay you bathing beauties…enough posing. Slide down."

A good ways down from where Grace and Kono were, Danny squinted up at them. He had just slid down and wasn't too happy. There were too many bodies splashing around in the landing pool. His daughter might get disoriented, swallow too much water and drown.

"Kono!"

She heard her name easily since Danny had bellowed it. "Yeah?" she called down.

"Have Gracie ride down on your lap!" He had his hands cupped around his mouth, scowling at them. He wasn't taking any chances with his precious daughter's safety. Of the four rides they had ridden, this was the first one Grace would be handling on her own. She had talked him into it, but now, as he stood at ground level sizing up the towering ride, Danny hated what he saw. Her assurances rang hollow. He wanted her on Kono's lap, with Kono's arms wrapped around her, strapping her in like they were double seatbelts.

To Kono, Grace said, "I want to slide down by myself." Her hand rested on her hip and she looked positively teenaged already. Her pouting had a convincing edge to it. What was Danno's problem?

Patiently, Kono replied to the disappointed child, "I know you do, honey, but you know your father. He thinks you could get hurt."

"I've done it before at the Hawaiian Village park. Nothing happened there. Danno worries too much, all the time about me." Grace threw up her hands in frustration. "I'm not that little anymore. Doesn't he know that?"

Kono recalled, taking full stock of Grace's discontent. Danny had gone on and on about the freckled little boy who had been 'hitting' on Grace. "He can't help it, sweetie. It's what he does as your dad. I know you understand." Kono gave her a sympathetic look along with a sigh. "But that doesn't make it any easier to take, huh?"

Grace shook her head. "He treats me like a baby. Always does, like I'm still in diapers. This ride isn't scary at all, but he thinks I am. I'm not. I'm a big girl and I'm not scared."

Kono wanted to say that in Danny's eyes she would be his baby girl for a very long time. Even when grown, if she had a child of her own, _if _her father could wrap his head around her being a grown woman, free to marry and have a kid of her own, Grace would be his little 'monkey,' for life. The mentality was ingrained in the overprotective worrywart. The fact that Grace had been kidnapped not too long ago hadn't relaxed Danny's opinion.

Behind Kono and Grace, a stout baldheaded man griped that they were taking too long. His grandson was waiting at the bottom of the ride. From this vantage point, the pale-skinned boy looked upset, as though he'd been abandoned. "Sometime today, Ladies, if you don't mind. My grandkid's waiting for me. The last thing I need is for him to wander off and get lost in all this crowd. Never saw the park this crowded. Oh, well…it is a Saturday." A note of cynicism crept into his voice while saying, "His mom, my daughter, will never let me hear the end of it if he goes missing." Following a prodigious sniff, he renewed, "So…if you don't mind…"

Politely, Kono invited, "Be our guest."

She and Grace considerately stepped aside and watched the barrel-chested man take the slide with water gushing all over him once he sat down, then off he went.

To avoid further prodding from the folks waiting behind them, Kono suggested, "Let's do this. You start off on my lap and before we reach the splash-out, you wriggle free and go the rest of the way solo."

Grace, nodding enthusiastically, agreed to being onboard with that idea. Kono got into a seated position, the water vigorously lapping her everywhere as she waited for Grace to get comfy on her. "All set?"

"Ready." The beautiful girl with her face all aglow tucked herself into her stepmother's petite lap.

And off they went, sliding faster and faster the farther away they got from the starting point. When Kono judged it was time for Grace to 'detach,' the minx-like child, yell-laughing, freed herself from Kono's lap. Kono did her part. Knowledgably, knowing how to slow herself down enough to give Grace leeway, Kono waited for the child to get clear. Once Grace had, Kono relaxed, allowing the water to sweep her along unimpeded.

Grace whooped as loudly as she could the closer she got to the chute's end. Kono was barely an arm's length behind, feeling every bit a kid herself. Water, managed the right way, promised much great fun. It wasn't until Kono realized that, having landed smack on top of Grace, the child was having trouble. Dazed, she clawed through the turbulent water, but her progress was nil. Seeing this, Kono made like a torpedo. One mighty scissor kick had her at the struggling girl's side.

At Grace's other side were the lifeguard and Danny, who was cursing a blue streak. Between the three rescuers, they quickly pulled the coughing, spluttering girl to safety. Anxious onlookers ringed around the quiverer; her father angrily ordered that they give his child breathing space. Couldn't they see she needed it?

"Monkey, Monkey, are you all right?" Danny threw Kono a desperate look, looking more distraught than she had ever seen him. "Gracie…" He knelt over her, holding one of her hands. His other hand he had wrapped around her neck.

"She's all right, Danny. Just swallowed too much water," Kono said, slumping close beside her wobbly husband.

"What happened?" he snapped, his eyes focused on his recovering apple of his eye.

"I'm okay, Danno. I'm okay. Really." She could see the unadulterated misery in her father's eyes. "I just saw so much water. I kind of forgot her to swim right."

Shooting Kono a decisive glower, Danny couldn't release his ire. "Water and my daughter does not mix. Never will." He relented, not wanting to cause Grace further stress. "Can you sit up, Monkey?"

"Sure, Danno," was Grace's whispered response. She shaded her eyes with a hand to keep the sun from burning into them. In stages, she was helped to stand.

Abruptly, Danny announced, "Enough fun in the sun for today. We're going home."

Kono and Grace gave him a look as he plowed off, not giving them a chance to dissent. Later that night, when her father was tucking her in, Grace said, "Danno?"

"Yes, Monkey?"

"Did you think I was going to die?"

"I tried not to think about that."

"Danno…I know how hard you try to keep me safe. But…you can't stop bad things from happening, right?"

Sadly, her father said, "I know. But I'm gonna keep trying my hardest to keep you safe, Gracie. I'll never stop. Now, go to sleep."

"Yes, Danno."

They rubbed noses and after they said goodnight to each other again, Grace tenderly whispered, "I love you, Danno, always will."

Unseen to her, once his eyes feasted on her, unshed tears began falling from her father's eyes. "Always…Monkey."

Later that night, Danny told Kono that he was sorry for having overreacted. Kono told him his reaction was only natural. Grace was his life. Still, he insisted that view included her as well. As they lay in bed, she nuzzled against him with more intent and owned up that she should have been more careful with Grace.

Burying his face into the side of her neck, he claimed, "I need to stop acting like such a mindless psycho anytime she gets a hangnail." Cupping his wife's cheek, he whispered in Kono's ear, "_Ipo_, are we good?"

"Danny, I love you. Always will."

Kissing the shell of her ear, he reiterated, "Ditto. Wanna rumble?"

"I thought you'd never ask..."

TBC


	26. Bun Time

The echo of the twenty-one gun salute died away gradually. As it did, Kono's and Danny's fingers interlaced. The couple winced in sympathy, seeing the face of their brave friend and intrepid fighter wince too. It wasn't long, after Steve turned away from looking at the trio that Danny weighted his wife's waist with his arm as it snaked around her.

Softly, close to her ear, he whispered, "Are you okay?" He felt tremors going through her, gently pulsating in her body.

Kono, though nodding, did so more out of acknowledging his voice than betraying her current state, which was weird. She wasn't feeling like herself at all. One moment she felt as cold as ice, and in the next she was plunging head first into Kilauea. Lava, lava, lava…feeling as if she were neck deep in the stuff was a disgusting, torrid sensation.

She bit her lower lip, trying to concentrate on how heroic Steve looked, he and Catherine. She imagined them in the thick of battle, doing whatever it had taken to do to retrieve Freddie Hart's remains from those hostile forces. Kono remained with eyes closed, picturing herself, along with her fearless counterparts, when the foursome had made the trip to the DMZ at their commander's request. Though she had remained behind to man the com, her heart had gone with them all.

Wherever they went, and it was obligatory that she remain behind, she was always with them, in spirit.

"You sure you're all right?" her husband persisted.

Plaintively, Kono replied in a dazed manner, "I'm just…" The eyes beneath her lids rolled back. She felt herself slide away and falter when she tried to push out, "Fi—"

The next thing she forced herself to process when she came to was the drastic change of venue. A chill slithered down her back, disjointed thoughts rushed in on her. No longer surrounded by wall-to-wall military, instead, Kono was engulfed by the stark whiteness of antiseptic cubical curtains. She lay in a hospital bed, an unsettling thought. What had happened? Since she remembered little more than telling Danny she was okay, she had no idea why she should be bedded down in a hospital.

They had taken her to Tripler AMC.

Her eyes must have looked glazed since she heard her husband's agitated remark. "That hazy look in her eyes worries me."

The three male forms and one feminine, crowded around her bed appeared diminutive, as though she saw them at the end of a long tunnel. Had she been drugged? If she had, when had she? That thought disconcerted her further. "G-guys? Why am I here?"

Chin was on one side of the bed, holding her hand, Danny was on the other side, holding her other. "You passed out at the ceremony, Cuz."

_D'uh, yeah_… Sure, she figured as much, but that still didn't explain the reason for her losing consciousness. She wasn't in the habit, never fainted at the sight of blood, nor going with next to nothing to eat for an entire day.

She demanded an explanation that made sense, something she could wrap her head around to get a handle on things. "_Why_?"

"They're running some tests on you, Kono," Steve dutifully supplied as Danny's index finger gently touched her face, etching invisible patterns into her skin. Hoping to solidify an explanation, the ex-Navy SEAL furnished, "Just need to make sure it's nothing more than frazzled nerves."

All the while Steve had been missing for Five-0 action, and Catherine absent from her normal routine, Kono had been unable to eat or sleep as regularly as she should have.

"Yeah, that's right, _Ipo_." Danny squeezed her hand tight, thankful that her pallor was subsiding. "They're just making sure you're all right." Danny pursed his lips. "You know, the same way you unconvincingly told me you were all right before you fell out like a stun-gunned tuna."

Having caught her in time before she had plummeted to the ground like a sack of bricks, Danny heaved another sigh of beleaguered relief again, now. At least she wasn't suffering from a concussion. He had called 911 and here they were.

Chin kept nodding, smiling in his own lukewarm way, but not fooling anyone that he was anxious out of his mind, concerned for her well-being. "How are you feeling now?"

"You all look and sound like you're not exactly in this room."

Alarmed, the room's inhabitants exchanged worried looks with one another. Catherine pointed out that there was something contagious circulating in the island. One of her fellow intelligence officers had come down with 'whatever it was' just the other day.

Danny clasped the hand he held and had his fingers wedged in-between hers. "Can you feel this?"

Of course Kono could; she told him so. "Blood being cut off," she chided, and wasn't thrilled about it. Her mate never knew his own strength unless she reminded him.

"Okay, see, now I know you belong here."

"_Why_?" Kono demanded, raising a very quirked eyebrow at him.

"Since when does a little thing like restricted blood flow bother you?"

What she said next was acerbic, with just the right tart flavoring. "Because I'm so indestructible?"

Distractedly, Danny eased up on the pressure his hand was exerting on hers, disenchanted, taken aback. Visually looking deflated, as though someone had used a pin on his bubble. His patented cockiness belied that 'uh-oh' feeling in the pit of his soul. Kono got surly when she was afraid. The tipoff made Danny just that bit more agitated. He couldn't keep himself from the vibes that told him Kono was worse off than she was letting on. "Nah, because you haven't been taking care of yourself. Haven't wanted me taking care of you either. Now that our two conquering heroes are back home safe and sound, I'm gonna do just that. Spoil you—"

"In every way possible, Jersey style," Steve cut in. The twinkles in his eyes fairly leaped from their orbs. He was raring to add more, but the doctor who had admitted Kono entered through the drawn curtains, preventing McGarrett's free flow of words.

Everyone in the confined space tensed, waiting on the medical provider's words, which soon tumbled from his mouth. "Misses Kalakaua-Williams," he addressed sounding all kinds of officious.

"It's just Misses _Williams_, Doctor," Kono corrected, linking anxious eyes with Danny's which were equally filled with agitated suspense.

The physician, a lean, gaunt-faced man in his late forties, whose surname was Wentworth, wore a look that gave nothing away. After clearing his throat, which seemed to take forever, he went on to say, "Misses _Williams_…" He looked presumably at Danny. "Mr. Williams?"

The nervous husband nodded, then barked, "What's wrong with my wife?"

"Nothing," Wentworth flatly told him, then his face brightened considerably. "Nothing good nutrition, regular hours of sleep and upping feel-good can't hurt. I highly recommend all three, with particular emphasis on the latter." Despite the doctor's stern appearance, he was a vanishing breed of the full-blown narrative variety.

Impatience wearing on Steve, he then pestered, "Just get to the point, _please_."

"Of course, of course. Certainly."

"How serious is it?" Chin clamored, eyeing the doctor cagily. "Is she staying overnight? Or longer."

"No, no. She can go home as soon as she signs her forms." With an open face and celebratory comportment, Wentworth gaily announced: "Congratulations. Let me be the first to make public that you are going to be parents." Wentworth, by this time, was at Danny's side and avidly thumping his back. Telling married couples that their union had produced a new life was icing on the cake. Too much death roamed these therapeutic, yet all too often gloomy halls.

The doctor's vigorous action handily facilitated Danny's face-plant into Kono's lap. She gasped, just as everyone, excepting the doctor, of course, had. Kono began shaking Danny, who wasn't stirring at all. "_Ipo_, _Ipo_! Are you all right? Hey—speak to me," she implored.

"Might need some smelling salts," the doctor observed. He wasted no time, leaving in search of the aromatic spirits of ammonia.

The doctor was right since it was Danny's turn. The father for a second time around had fainted dead away.

TBC…


	27. Extra, Extra

The glint in Savannah Walker's eyes leached out to her adoring audience. She glowed with pride as she strutted across the stage. In a few moments, she would circulate among her spectators, who were hanging on her every word. All things considered, the investigative reporting on Five-0 had been a huge, roaring success. Though she might have wished for more responsively forthcoming cooperation from the team's core members, like being less brusque when she asked them pertinent questions, or their warning her to stay back for her own safety, what footage she had gotten had been well-received by her loyal fans. There could be no other way those now better-acquainted with the task force's dangerous exploits could see them. As she had touted, and would keep on touting, they were heroes-all. The entertaining tour de force had gone over big. Ratings never lied.

Walker had already been promised more shows of this sort in upcoming months.

Savannah, however, had saved, what she considered, the best for last.

"And now, Ladies and gentlemen, for our final segment…" Savannah directed her outstretched arm to the giant screen closest to her. With hand raised, she heralded, "What you don't know is that two of the team's members are man and wife."

Collective 'oohs,' arose from the audience. Spurred on by her admirers' enthusiasm, the articulate beauty fanned, "Can you guess who they are?"

Since Chin Ho Kelly was related to Kono Kalakaua, most certainly his name never blew past their lips. Good thing he'd been wearing his bulletproof best, or this show would have taken a decidedly mournful tone. Great piece of police protective equipment, Kevlar.

Enthusiastic shouts erupted from the assembled throng. One camp clamored: "Kono and Steve!" Obviously, they hadn't bought that Catherine Rollins was his girlfriend, even less her being his spouse.

Equally ardent, with zestful insistence, the other camp strongly contended: "Kono and Danny!"

"If you said, 'Kono and Danny,' you'd be right. Yes, yes, folks…and that's not all there's going to be an addition to the Five-0 task force, courtesy the stork."

More uproarious 'oohs,' and several 'ahs' ensued.

Those in the audience got to see on the television screens high above the stage, Savannah and her camera team making their way down a hallway. Some of the doors passed bore doctors' names on them. "We're in a medical arts building, en route to Doctor Barbara Mills' office." With a conspiratorial look splashed across her swarthy, comely face, Savannah proclaimed with finality, "She's an _obstetrician_."

Louder shouting interspersed with wild hooting broke out, as though someone had thrown a switch to electrify the news-hungry crowd. On stage, Savannah beamed as though she were expecting herself.

"They're expecting!" She too was shouting at the top of her lungs. "Isn't that great!? Isn't that great!?" Abruptly, professionally, taking on more composure, Savannah continued with the play-by-play. "We've lagged behind the Williams a bit. Didn't want to impose, well overly-much, on their privacy during this pre-natal care visit. But—the wedded detectives are in for a surprise."

With that said, Savannah had the door to the doctor's office open. Inside the waiting room, she and her crew were just in time to hear Kono being called by her married surname. Danny shot up from his seat on the couch with both hands up, advising Ms. Walker and her nutty entourage to back off.

"Hey, hey, hey—enough is enough. I'm not being rude here, but this is truly an invasion of my family's privacy. We're off the clock. This is our personal lives you're messing with." He got in-between Savannah and Kono. "I will ask you nicely, but I insist that you and your crew clear out." All the while, he kept urging Kono to make a run for it into Dr. Mills' examination room. "This attack on our privacy has to stop!"

From the moment Savannah and her team had entered the office, the doctor's receptionist was aghast. What did these people think this was? TMZ? Quickly, the anxious, pretty Polynesian woman ushered Kono away from the video journalist's well-meaning, yet intrusive clutches. Danny had wanted to accompany his wife for the ultrasound.

Cholerically, Danny headed off Savannah, with crew in tow, off. "Where do you think you're going?" He oozed pure New 'Jerseyian' charm. So much so that it was bouncing off the waiting room's soft white, stylized island motif walls. Making nice wasn't happening.

Calmly, Savannah officiously, responded, "Inside."

"Leave us _alone_!" Danny was adamant about barring the way.

Although Savannah looked all set to storm the Bastille, she was hoping for a little indulgence from Danny. True to her headstrong subscription, she tried bogarting her way, bound for the examination room where Kono was being prepped. In her reporter's mind, she reasoned that, after all, the governor had given her 'carte blanche' speaking in a thoroughly expository vein. This would be the Williams' chance to hit a home run for the team, holding _nothing_ back. Letting prying eyes peer right into the womb.

Then, like a momma bear protecting its young, Danny went for the camera that had its zoom lens invading Kono's personal space. His meaty hand covered the entire lens. "End of filming. Don't make me get physical with your property. Believe me I will if you people don't back off!"

Back on stage, live before the outdoor audience, Savannah grinned. That Det. Williams gave strong-arm tactics new meaning. The gigantic T.V. screen went dark as Ms. Walker could be heard saying over the non-existent footage, "Okay, guys, I guess this is as far as the detective lets us go." More indistinct sounds could be heard and then the huge screen went blank.

Live Savannah clapped her hands and encouraged her audience to do the same. "Wasn't that wonderful? Wasn't that exciting?" Then she launched once again into avid praise of Five-0, this time including Governor Denning for his tireless efforts to protect the law-abiding citizens of this eight-island state.

Back at headquarters, Steve and Chin had caught the entire presentation on the Lt. Commander's flat screen. The broadcast had been delayed.

Off-handedly, McGarrett commented, "Journalism never appealed to me while I was in school. Too much room for the wrong ideas. So often, what passes as facts is fabrication. Impure and rarely simple. Denning needs to keep his nose out of our business. If he's looking to get us killed, his arranging this little foray into our ops paved the way. He keeps assuring me he's on our side."

Chin smiled as he thought. Too many times, at least to his mind, even the best reporting was biased. He agreed with Steve completely. No one needed to know their _modus operandi_. "What happened to us didn't feel much like Journalism. More like hounding."

Grinning at the T.V., Steve claimed, "I know at least two people who'll readily agree with you."

Chin laughed right along with the 'head honcho.' "Two and counting…"

"Do they want to know what they're having?"

Forthrightly, Chin replied, "No. I keep wondering if Kono might have twins. They run in the family."

"Good thing the Jersey boy likes kids." Steve tossed his grinning on-again, off-again drinking buddy an evil grin.

TBC…


	28. Chimera

Like rattling skeleton bones, this case had rattled quite a few for Danno. As he'd told Steve in the Camaro when coming away from the Bishop's home, the hours that Gracie had been missing had been the most abominable in his life. That included the hours his partner, Grace, and he had spent being tortured in that New Jersey warehouse before the news of 9/11 exploded in the headlines.

Ella's parents, he'd been in their skin, knew exactly what they'd gone through. It explained why he'd had to go see his daughter, had felt compelled to, during cheerleader practice. He'd needed hands on reassurance, reconnection with his beloved flesh and blood. His little doll was growing up, and fast too…too fast. Her forehead came up to his chin easily now. Danny stretched on the bed, extending his arms as far as they could go beyond his head. He did the same with his legs in the other direction.

And then he allowed his athletic, compact body to sag. This gut-wrenching case had done a number on body and soul, both. From their kitchen, he heard Kono humming. He loved the lilt of her voice, its sound when she hit the note spot-on. Then, she'd sing a little, once words popped into her head. This woman was more than a wife; she was his touchstone and now the mother of his baby.

They still didn't know their child's sex, didn't want to know, wanted it to be a surprise when the big birth day came. Any baby shower would have to wait. It was how they wanted it too.

If not for Kono, the ramifications of this case would have crippled Danny. She was the crazy glue, who kept his mind from becoming unglued. People like Terry and Ray Billings should be put away for the rest of their unnatural lives. They were responsible for Amanda Morris' death, the local girl they'd taken captive ten years ago. The T.V. was on in Kono and Danny's refurbished bedroom. Another report was airing, covering the apprehension of the fraud-perpetrating couple of misfit losers. Their crime was too heinous. Danny felt his stomach lurch, imaging Amanda's torment, being separated from her mother and father for a decade, kept in isolation while being told that her parents were dead. Her only solace? Writing her agonized thoughts down in a stained, dog-eared, red leather-bound diary.

Danny had been the one allowed to deliver it to her parents once permission had been granted to release the deceased's memoirs. Before giving the book to them, he had read some of what the wronged child had written. He hadn't been able to stop crying.

Even now, the substitution was immediate, inexorable, merciless in its intensity. Jagged edges of visualization stabbed him, mangling his mind. He devoured the sight of his Gracie…Gracie…Gracie, manacled. The metal cutting into her tender flesh, she being told that her parents were dead, crying herself to sleep every night. He imagined her being buried in that suffocation box.

Her sobs amid horrific cries for help pierced his heart. Danny's fists sank into the bedding after he drove them into it. He was still so livid, so hungry for justice. Which…had made it so, so easy to serve Billings his head in the perp's cluttered living room. Danny had nearly beaten the man's brains out, with Steve's blessing. Once he had handed off his badge to the big kahuna, the gloves came off, along with some knuckle skin. Beating Ray, the monster, to a bloody pulp was too good for him. The mauling-drubbing-bashing fest had served its purpose. They had found Ella, alive, safe. Of course, she would need therapy, but she had survived in order to receive it. Her precious life hadn't been snuffed out by the ilk of vermin that stole children for their own wicked schemes.

Kono's voice reached him from the kitchen. She was fixing him some tea. Tea? Sure, there was plenty of beer on hand. She and he drank it like water. Only, now, not so much since alcohol and pregnancy didn't mix. Kono was doing her part. An auntie had suggested that she drink a native herbal concoction. The blend would ease childbirth pangs. Turned out, Danny liked the tea too. He wasn't in a beer-drinking mood tonight. During the case he'd drunk his fill.

"Hot tea coming up." Though she had said hot, she always made it warm, so there was never a chance of his tongue or the roof of his mouth getting burned.

Danny tried sitting up, but his brain was at odds with his muscles. The 'workout' with Ray had been hard on him too. So much so that now body ache wormed its smarting way through him.

"Need some help?" his dutiful wife kindly offered.

"Babe…I'm a mess."

"You look worse for wear." Kono set the tray down on the nearby chairside table. "When was the last time you took a guy apart like that?"

"For fun? Or, in that unofficial capacity Steve sanctioned?"

"You tell me." Kono tasted his tea to make sure its warmth was just right.

The squat piece of dark furniture was a present from Kamekona, a belated wedding present. Danny struggled, trying to get off his back. The strain of effort showed on his face, he grimacing with each inch gained. "It was fun. Every swing and kick was for the girls he terrorized. Can't remember the last time I wailed on scum fitting his description." Danny whistled, in part for the misery he'd inflicted, and partly for his own throbbing. "Now I'm paying for it, but it's a good kind of hurt."

"C'mon. Let me help." It vexed her seeing her husband like this. Somewhat begrudgingly, he let her. "Better?" she asked, once she had him slumped against her where they sat on the edge of the bed. Then Kono apologized for having to prop him up with her arm so she could reach her target. "Let me get your mug."

"Go ahead." He eased himself off the supporting hand. "I'm not actually dying. I'll live."

"You better. I'm not raising this kid all by my lonesome." Kono offered him the sweet tea, handle first. Before she surrendered it, she kissed the crown of his head.

Taking his mug from her, Danny raised it to his lips. She nestled herself against him, contentedly, secure in the knowledge that love was their drug. Kono listened to him slurp, possibly the longest slurp in history if there was such a thing. Her tea was the best; he always told her so. He came up for air, a little smile ghosting his lips. Not hesitating, he drained more.

Kono looked on in approval, a warm, fuzzy feeling suffusing her. Wife and mother-to-be kept watching Danny satisfy his thirst for comfort. Absently, his free hand landed squarely on her belly. Her middle was still the same size it had been two weeks ago. She wasn't dramatically far along, but, as was characteristic of the women in her family, she would carry small. A moment later, Kono began gently massaging Danny's taut, bunched up shoulder muscles.

"Hmmm." With tea gone, and his eyes closed, he effortlessly drifted off to never, never land, where **_all _**children were safe from feral ogres and loving parents never heard the staggering words:

_'Sorry for your loss. Gone far too soon. Our sincerest condolences_…'

The hold Danny had on Kono's tummy firmed. She debated with herself, needing to share what was too impossible to ignore while easing the mug from his hand to set it aside. She was trembling ever so slightly. "Hon…"

"Hmmm?" One side of Danny's mouth curved upward.

She placed her hand atop his hand anchored to her stomach. In sotto voce, she said, "You're not going to believe this."

Following a lengthy yawn and soft, labial champing, which Kono couldn't resist so she kissed him tenderly on his mouth, Danny responded. His hand fanned along the back of her head, holding it in place so her mouth couldn't get away so fast.

"Let me tell you," Kono plied, her lips resting on his.

"Tell me…tell me what?" Cracking wise, he sprang, "The kid's not mine."

Kono recoiled, stressing over his ribbing which might be a distinct possibility. She and Adam had been intimate on numerous occasions. Danny, having felt her reaction immediately, got long-faced and quickly retracted, "No, no. Hey, I didn't mean that. It's the fatigue talkin'. Ignore me."

Sounding just as no-nonsense, Kono said, "Adam's not dead. He faked his death."

"What!"

Looking as sad as could be, she nodded. "He's alive."

"How do you know this?"

"Saw him." Could she have been more deadpan?

"How?" Danny was acting like a man on fire. "Saw him—_where_?"

"In footage Catherine sent me." Her tone was flatter when she confessed, "I asked her to investigate the rumor circulating that he's doing business in Japan." Kono matched her husband's intensity. "There's more."

"More? More…like in his being alive isn't enough?"

"He's deeply involved with the Yakuza." Kono felt like such a fool. "He lied to me. All along."

Sardonically, Danny spewed, "Shocker!"

Kono buried her face in her hands, she was free falling and no sooner did that sensation overtake her, Danny wrapped his arms around her, holding on tight, for dear life.

"I've got you,_ Ipo_. Always will. I'm never letting go." He held her in his all-encompassing vise. "He brings it, we'll take it. Chin, Steve, wild new hair and all...you, me."

Kono nodded against him, coming to rest. "Love you. So much."

Danny rocked her in his arms. Whatever memory of soreness there had been, gone.

TBC…


	29. The Bough Won't Break, The Cradle Rocks

"Kono…what's wrong?" He touched her cheek again, looking down at her in her hospital bed. He resisted the urge to stroke her dewy skin. It wouldn't be right; she wasn't his to fondle, caress, as if his true feelings mattered. She was Mrs. D. Williams. Though having been injured, she never appeared vulnerable, never did. The sole female on his team was one bad-ass gladiator. He'd been told she was going to be released a day from today. They were still keeping her for observation. He was glad that they were. Too careful wasn't careful enough as far as Kono was concerned, still tough, but different. She was still going to be a mother, despite having been wounded. Yes, thank God. Taking that bullet to her body hadn't ruined her bid for motherhood.

The baby was fine. The baby's daddy wasn't.

Kono looked so sad, Steve judged. He had a good idea why, but he held his tongue. If and when she wanted to talk about it, she would. He knew her.

Her eyes held a faraway look. There was nothing weak about crying. She had several times once she had been alone. Kamekona had brought more shrimp. He'd come solo. Danny hadn't come. He wasn't speaking to her, as livid with her as he was.

Not too long after that, Steve had turned up. This made the second time today.

"Kono?"

She was remembering back to the last thing she had heard Adam say over her cloned phone.

"_Five-O paid me a visit_…"

She crashed both fists into the somewhat antiseptic bedding, wanting to scream. Truly, she had been betrayed in so many ways. The man she had thought she loved was nothing more than a…a fraud. As if she hadn't had some inkling long before his two Yakuza henchmen had taken to taking pot shots at her in that warehouse full of dead people's remains.

She had been blinded by love for one very smooth operator, who was still operating, had never stopped. The intel Catherine had given her confirmed what she had begun suspecting.

The brazenness of her ex-boyfriend was one for the books. What gave him the right to muck up her life, breeze back into it as though he had every right to? Standing right where Steve had been standing moments ago, Adam had stood there, telling her he wanted her to leave Danny. As soon as she was well enough, she needed to come away with him, like the first time he had proposed such rashness, such lunacy. She and he could still have a future together.

"You liar…" sluiced past her lips.

Kono squeezed her eyes tightly shut so she wouldn't have to see the commander's tight-lipped expression claw at her soul, wreak havoc with all that had been good while having been in the line of various duties. A heavy, yet appreciative heart told her to make a clean break with her unruly past as it pounded against her ribs. She should if she wanted to have any sort of future with any semblance of normalcy. Overwhelmed with emotions, Kono buried her face in the crook of her arm.

"Go, Steve…just go." She batted his ministering hand away, choosing to shift her weight so her back was to him.

"Like that's happening now." Not to be stymied, Steve rounded the bed, steaming, ignoring the cold shoulder she had shoved in his face. "Talk to me. You're stubborn. I'm 'stubborner.'"

It was his species of stubbornness that had eked out a place for her on this intrepid team.

Her words were elongated by a moan. "You're… No, I can't do this right now." Her eyes traced the turmoil she saw in Steve's before she dragged hers away. She looked beyond his shoulder, his broad shoulder suitable for crying on. Outside the window, her beautiful island world was drenched in delicious, golden sunshine…another picture-perfect day in this idyllic tropical paradise, where crime seldom took a holiday. And people could be so cruel, as they could be anywhere else in the world.

Steve made a rasping sound in the pit of his throat. He gestured to her, indicating that he command her undivided attention. She owed him, and she knew it. She needed to come across.

Kono gave over, reluctantly. "He said he wasn't going to speak to me again—ever." Her fingers, at her mouth, worried her lips. Both the fingers and the lips trembled. "Not after my being so stupid. So reckless with myself and the new life we created that I'm carrying inside me. He accused me of having short-shrift for brains. Thinking I could go check something so dicey out all on my own. Never bothering to call for backup, the way I should have."

_Girl after my own heart_…Steve had no alternative but to think. _Which is why I told Danny to shove it_…

"You know your man. Same as I do. Danno'll come around. He shoots off that big mouth of his, then has a change of heart when the stocky hothead takes both feet out of that humongous pie-hole he totes around like a cannon." Steve sat on the edge of the cranked bed. To soothe, he initiated stroking her head. "He'll come around."

"But what if he doesn't?"

"He will."

"But what if he _doesn't_?" She envisioned some very tristful times ahead if Danny dumped her. Life devoid of sanguine feelings, choked with cloying sorrow as she grappled with raising their child alone. Purging fond memories really sucked. Okay, she'd done wrong, but why must he punish her like this? Did he want a divorce? On what grounds? Wicked irreconcilable differences? True, they were different, but did that make them irreconcilable? Kono felt her heart buck. She couldn't see herself without her Danny.

She snuffled several times. Her throat hurt. Unshed tears had a way of making it predictably happen.

"Kono…give him time. You know, after he cools off, he _will_."

Emotions ran high in this room. Neither spoke until, at length, Steve rose from the bed. He'd give her the space her eyes begged for her needing. While pacing several moments, then standing still, he caught sight of the hothead in question poke his head into the serviceable room.

Sheepishly, the contrite visitor framed his words carefully. "A bad time?" His heart was in his mouth. He loved Kono so much, it made him a rationality liability.

Hearing the camp in her husband's voice made those suppressed tears roll down her cheeks. She thrust out her hand and Steve grasped it. "Stay." Certainly, that had come out sounding mighty shaky.

"No, no. I should go." To the husband, who had clearly had a change of heart, judging by the gifts he bore, flowers, Kono's favorites, and a dainty box of petite almond croissants filled with ginger, he said, "Daniel, she's all yours." He wagged his finger at him. "What took you so long?" Sounding triumphant he uttered, "Bye."

Danny minced into the room, with an imaginary tail between his legs. _Flight, or fight_ went through his mind. He eyed his colleagues, the one who bore his surname and his child, especially. He watched Kono thrusting out her hand again to Steve.

"You know you can stay. But if you do go, I have to say that I'll always know Five-O has my back. Whether I get to stay on the force…or not."

"_Or not_?" both men roared in unison.

"Get this straight, Kalakaua-Williams, you're not going anywhere—got that!" Steve stressed, looking as though he was hopped-up on serious narcotic contraband, flooding the streets. "You'll be on this team until whoever they get to replace us will be pushing us around in our wheelchairs." It was a rare treat, seeing him this adamant. He used his hands like spatulas.

"Uh…since it's been mentioned." Danny only had eyes for his wife. "Will you let me stay, Ko? Yet again, I've proven what an ass I can be, not even trying. How many times does this make since we said, 'I do?'"

Kono locked eyes with her short-fused blond, her red-rimmed eyes burning.

"Who's counting?" Her lips had barely moved. She threw her arms out to him, silently pleading that he fill them.

After setting aside his presents, Danny took the hint with a vengeance, although he held back as best he could. Prudently, he exercised restraint. Interfering with her comfort was out, so measuredly, he nestled himself into her waiting arms. He kissed her profusely, everywhere his lips landed. Steve thought about whisking out of the room to hunt up a vase for her flowers.

"Now I am leaving you two alone."

Steve made his move, only to hear Kono bark, "Get back over here," in-between Danny's smothering.

"Who's gonna make me?" Steve touted, giving both of them some stern visual incentive to let him go off on his 'merry.' He sidled back to the bed, nevertheless. Disobeying Kono went against the grain.

She manacled Steve's wrist with a strong hand. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Boss."

"That goes double for me," Danny had no qualms admitting. When Steve had it in his mind to talk sense into a simpleton, pity the poor fool who tried to snub it. Or worse, that dumb know-it-all thought he knew better. Wrong was wrong, and Steve had made the Jersey transplant, hasty with his lack of insight, see the light. If words had failed, a punch in the mouth could have done the trick too.

_By any means possible_, Steve thought, _to get that man right again with his woman_.

Kono had learned her lesson; backup and don't forget it was her new mantra. It had also been her husband's turn to get it into his thick head. Hurting the one who loved you was a lose-lose. What counted was winning. If they didn't know how much they were made for each other, Steve would have no problem with his style of 're-introduction.'

"Love it when true lovebirds kiss and make up." He twiddled fingers at them as he neared the door, then reminded Danny, "Like I said…she's all yours. Don't you ever forget that, ever again."

"Nope, Steven. I won't," Danny promised, burying his nose in the nape of Kono's warm neck, hearing her sigh contentedly.

"Catherine's meeting me at the shrimp truck."

"Tell Kamekona that I'm here for another night. See what he can do about making my next meal more spicy," Kono said, winking.

"Is this spicy enough?" Danny menaced, turning up the heat. He knew this was only the beginning. He had a lot of sucking up to do. He could do it. He was a pro. He stuck his tongue into her ear before hungry lips dove into her mouth.

Kono yelped.

Observantly, Steve snickered, bounced on the balls of his feet and left.

"Oh, God," he breathed, "how I love these people." With his face lit up, he smiled at every DO, PA, nurse, orderly, or maintenance personnel he passed while making his way out of the hospital. Once in the resplendent Hawaiian sunshine again, he reveled about its never having felt so good.

TBC…


	30. Say Good-bye

Kono had no words for how antsy she felt, along with useless. She thought she was being released. That assurance had been given a week ago. She had been under that impression until a complication with the pregnancy had materialized. Her gunshot wound was infected. Her stitches had been removed, then replaced. She'd been taken off the initial antibiotic administered and placed on another that was still safe for her to take in her condition. She had to admit the new medication made her feel sluggish, a bit weak, very out-of-sorts.

There was talk of her having to remain hospitalized for another week.

She needed to be released, though, especially now. Things were going to hell in a handbasket.

Danny was worried, but glad she was being detained. He reasoned that her being kept here was for her own protection. HPD had her under guard. One reason was that the Yakuza had stepped up their efforts to cover their tracks, tie up loose ends. There was more than a fair speculation that they considered Kono to be one of them.

More evidence had surfaced that seemingly implicated her in Victor Asanuma's murder. Victor had been a prime target. Now he'd been eliminated. One of the bodies found in the warehouse had been his. Additional bullets, aside from the previous ones involved with another murder, were again identified as coming from Kono's gun. They had been recovered from Victor's badly-decomposed body.

Chin and Danny were working along with Adam to help clear Kono, once and for all.

Fidgety, Kono sighed in resignation. She itched to be hammering away in the field, working to prove her innocence. She stayed anxious for the people she loved, her _ohana_. If anything happened to any one of them, she'd never be able to live with herself.

Proving that she had nothing to do with this murder, like the first one she'd been brought up on charges for, felt like covering old ground, painful old ground. Though having been charged, along with Steve, as her accomplice, they had been exonerated. All charges had been dropped.

Now doubt had re-arisen concerning her innocence.

In some weird way, double jeopardy had been ruled inapplicable. Kono was no lawyer. Mistrust of the powers that be eroded confidence in a vulnerable system. A system flawed, easily corrupted by bribes, repayment of favors and malicious threats.

Now, the charge was back to haunt her. At least Steve hadn't been re-accused. He, Catherine and Charlie Fong had joined forces to vindicate her. Less than twenty minutes ago, Steve had called, letting Kono know that they had a tipster, an arms dealer, with close ties to the Yakusa in custody. The detainee was willing to roll on the slain man.

Not too long after Steve's call, Danny had been in touch. He had sounded shaky, not his usual all-full-of-himself, self.

Immediately, Kono had needed to know what was the matter. Danny hadn't been willing to tell her right away. Was he kidding? Finally, following much wheedling, flavored heavily with flat-out demands that she be told, he gave.

Chin and he had paid her former boyfriend a visit. Complying, Adam had taken them to Michael's secret hideaway. Whatever shady thing Michael had ever done, he'd done it there. At the site, they had discovered the pair of bloody gloves, Kono had discovered at the warehouse. They had been stuffed into a nook in the floorboard of one of his brother's vehicles.

Chin and Danny had taken the 'smoking gun' back to headquarters and Fong ran a DNA check on those gloves. The discovery of Michael Noshimuri's DNA traces on them confirmed that he had murdered Asamuna. Kono was completely in the clear, which came as absolutely no surprise.

Michael had used her gun. Presently, Danny and Chin were unaware of broader details. They didn't know that Michael had intended to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

He had murdered Asamuna to prevent him and his ruthless faction from taking control of the Yakusa. Adam and he would be the ones to run things, despite his brother's resistance to assume full control because he wished to walk away. If Michael got his way, however, his brother's choice of ex-_girlfriend_'s would be history, as well as his brother. In time, he planned to take over, calling the shots in the near future, not Adam.

On the heels of Chin and Danny's acquitting discovery, first, they had informed Steve, then had called on Adam to follow-up. While discussing their findings, Michael had appeared, out of the woodwork, or so it had seemed, when he'd loomed before the men who had been engrossed in deep discussion. After badmouthing Adam about his having been so stupid for getting chummy with Five-O, he had wheeled on Danny.

With gun in hand, Michael Noshimuri vowed he was going to kill him.

Hearing that from Chin had stunned Kono. Her picturing Danny dead had been instantaneous. What Chin had said next had numbed her. Adam had lunged at his brother. They had wrestled. The gun had gone off, had pumped bullets into—Michael.

The younger of the two brothers was now dead, retribution paid in full for his many wrongs.

Chin had ended by saying that Adam would need to flee Hawaii. Members of the Yakuza who sided with the deceased would exact revenge. Adam's safety was at risk. Even as they'd been speaking, Chin had told Kono that Doris was arranging for Adam's departure for an undisclosed asylum far away from the islands.

Kono had found it hard wrapping her mind around such an alarming update coming as it was from left field. Chin had promised that Danny and he would be at the hospital as soon as they could.

She had spoken with her cousin about half an hour ago.

Still dazed, Kono lay in her bed as thoughts of Adam saturated her mind. Where would he go? Would he ever be safe, free from the clutches of an organization relentless for what it wanted? Given the present situation, she doubted he ever would be out of harm's way. He had faked his death, had returned from 'the dead,' but, after his brother dying at his hands, he was in mortal danger. A fact that might never go away.

Doris was helping Adam? Steve was okay with that? Realistically, Kono wondered who had convinced whom that she get involved. It occurred to Kono that if she were still involved with Adam, their relationship alive and well, would she have gone '_with?'_

He would have expected her to, but would she have gone?

Though she no longer loved him, she did owe him her life. There would always be that. He had unselfishly risked his to save hers. She hoped he'd be all right wherever he wound up. It was sobering to think that there would be no way for her to stop thinking about how he was.

Kono sighed, about to close her eyes, when there was a sudden knock on the door. Squinting as she opened her eyes, she saw the officer stationed at it stick her head in. It was nice to see that it was a woman this time.

"There's this guy—a _big_ guy—says he's got your '_eats_.'"

Despite her somber mood, Kono had to grin.

Above the policewoman's head, Kamekona's appeared. "That's right, sistas. I got the goods. Piping hot fresh shrimp ready to be consumed." He looked down on the officer and invited, "You want some too. You got some. Plenty here for enjoying." Self-possessed, as ever, the outgoing giant lumbered into Kono's room, his smile as wide as his waistline.

"No thanks," the female uniformed officer politely declined. She shut the door behind herself.

"You lookin' better every day." Kamekona jovially set his edibles down on the tray table that hadn't been retrieved long after breakfast had been served. By the look of things, Kono hadn't eaten much of what had been offered. She had just nibbled on the toast by the look of the crisp, dry bread. Her soft-boiled egg was cold and nasty-looking. He began opening up the containers. His delicious food scented the sick room.

Kono was disinclined to dig in. The Hawaiian culinary self-styled genius' forehead wrinkled.

"What's up with your non-interest in my amazing cuisine?" When he tacked on 'sista,' there was a twist to it, not such a playful one. "You're supposed to be eating for two. You're not even eating for _one_."

Sounding grateful, yet dispirited, Kono replied, "Thanks, Kame. I'm just not very hungry."

"How come? It don't look like you did justice to this unappetizing hospital chow." Sniffing with distaste at what the hospital considered food, he lifted a container to his sizeable nose to inhale deeply. "Ah… My special, ultra-secret recipe. Perfected and prepared especially for you. So you'd better dig in, _wahine_."

Kono just lay there, too torn up to answer.

"What's your deal, sista?" He noticed the set of her jaw. Hers quivered.

She just stared at him as though he were transparent. Her eyes were unfocused, her breathing irregular. _More tears, more tears_, she thought.

Kamekona figured the best remedy for her detachment from reality and dance with feeling down was a strong whiff of his amazing food. He stuck what he held directly beneath her nose. "You smell that?"

Indeed, she did and even in her present state, she admitted that the food smelled fantastic. 'Mr. Shrimps' had really learned several things or so about the tasty serving of the little marine crustaceans. "Maybe later, Kame. Right now—"

Her cell phone sounding off roped in her attention.

Steve was calling again.

Not thinking, she babbled to Kamekona, "Steve's calling."

Promptly, the moonlighting chopper pilot quipped, "Tell him I'll catch up with him at the truck later this afternoon. I owe him something special."

Nodding, then supplely she said to Steve, "Boss, have you spoken with Danny and Chin?"

"Yeah, Kono, I have. Sorry to hear about Adam."

She bit her lip, memories of when they'd been together heavily weighing down her mind. "Yeah."

Steve's voice took on a grit, his tone abrasive and hard. "Kono…I'm sorry to have to say this. I've got more bad news."

"What?"

_Stoic is as stoic_ does ran across her mind.

How many ways did he hate doing this? Too many to count. "Charlie Fong was found stabbed in his lab."

He'd been discovered bleeding to death, his body punctured with multiple stab wounds sprawled, out in the middle of the evidence analysis nerve center.

If she had gone numb before, this species of numbness couldn't hold a candle to what she'd experienced previously. "How bad is he?" She refused to consider the other possibility. She'd known smiley Charlie since childhood, kind compassionate, real Charlie.

Who could have possibly wanted to harm him?

Steve tried making it as controvertible as possible. It was a good thing she couldn't see how distraught he looked. "No word yet. He was rushed to your location."

"Do Danny and Chin know?"

"Just told them." Derisively, Steve said, "I'm on my way to the hospital. Later, I'm paying Wo Fat another visit. That first one was a colossal waste of time. Didn't give me what I need to know." He felt the same about the talk with his mother. The two dialogues fit the same category exactly to a tee. Hastily he added, "Kono I can't tell you how happy I am that you have ultimately been cleared—for good."

Too overcome by too many things, she merely nodded. Huge teardrops set up in her eyes.

"See you moments from now."

When Steve ended the call, Kono began rousing herself, intent on getting out of bed determined to be on the move. She had to know that Charlie was okay.

"Whoa, there, sista! Where do you think you going?" The big man had his hands gently, but firmly, holding her in place in the bed. "You ain't going nowhere. Not while I'm here."

Obstinately, Kono fired, "Charlie Fong's been stabbed. I need to know his condition. You can't stop me!" She did her best buffeting his thick arms away, determined to ditch him. "I've got to found out if he's all right."

"Hey, hey, hey. I'll do that. You better stay put." Kamekona looked serious. Already at the door and preparing to open it, he promised, "I'll find out and be right back." Under his breath he muttered, "These cops are crazy. Always said so." He knew Charlie, though, a decent guy. A real louse must have knifed him.

With a woebegone looked entrenched in the depths of her murky brown eyes, Kono acquiesced. She did so begrudgingly, but she did. "Thanks, Kame," she relinquished, sounding every shade of defeated.

"Be right back. Do me a big favor and start eating."

She gazed at the containers, grimacing. Worrying her lower lip with her front upper teeth, she then plunged her face into her hands. The release of tears racked her body.

TBC…next season.

Thanks, everyone, for your faithful readership.


End file.
